06-28-2009, 11:35 PM
Do you think the descendants of the Moors in Spain look like the descendants of the indigenous people from the 8th Century? Admittedly, there were many differences, including dominant languages. (You folks from Spain can chime in here, of course.) I submit that the Moors, when they conquered the lower half of Spain and stayed there for as long as they did, entirely entered the gene pool and permanently changed it. It is genes, after all, that determine bone structure, hair color, facial hair or lack of it, tooth shape, blood type, etc., ad infinitum. Isn't that why they're testing people's modern DNA against skeletal DNA from ancient burial grounds to determine (for example) if the [citizens of country A] have ancestral links to [ancient country B]?
Of course Turks and Greeks share some common genetics, look at all the interplay between those cultures over the millennia, alternately battling on one country's soil or the other. It would be astonishing if they did not.
Southern Italians (in the generations before travel outside of the home province became normal) were different in appearance from the Northern Italians. Their respective Greek and Cisalpine Gaul ancestry had a lot to do with that, don't you think? Not many native Sicilians born with red hair, but it's not uncommon in Verona or Milan, right?
As for the artists, my simple explanation agrees with yours. We project our own stereotypes onto whatever we do, for the most part, so it's expected that people will take what they think someone looked like in a particular culture and make their drawings accordingly.
Of course Turks and Greeks share some common genetics, look at all the interplay between those cultures over the millennia, alternately battling on one country's soil or the other. It would be astonishing if they did not.
Southern Italians (in the generations before travel outside of the home province became normal) were different in appearance from the Northern Italians. Their respective Greek and Cisalpine Gaul ancestry had a lot to do with that, don't you think? Not many native Sicilians born with red hair, but it's not uncommon in Verona or Milan, right?
As for the artists, my simple explanation agrees with yours. We project our own stereotypes onto whatever we do, for the most part, so it's expected that people will take what they think someone looked like in a particular culture and make their drawings accordingly.
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
(David Wills)
Saepe veritas est dura.
