Colour and appearance in nature part III. Color and appearance of homo sapiens

The principles of human colouration are very similar to those applying to other organisms, as outlined in the first and second articles of this series. The races of man are coloured differently for the very good reasons of adaptation to our environment, and any deviation from what is considered our normal colour is a good guide to the state of our wellbeing. Human beings have evolved and adapted to a reproductive sexual environment as well as to a climatological environment. Neanderthal man, at the start of the homo sapiens line, included ceremony and colour in his life pattern, and anthropologists have identified a basic colour triad used in body painting. There are various types of decoration and many motives to use colour, but it seems that body colour and decoration in general have remained vitally important to man's culture, enjoyment, and fear of life through the succeeding ages.