How did cavemen or ancient Vikings avoid sunburn?
In: Biology
People tended to spend more time outdoors and their skin gradually produced melanin to protect them. Sunburns is worst if you have spent a lot of time indoors for a long time and have quite pale skin to show for it and then go out into the strong sunlight. If you are out all spring getting gradually more and more sun then the sunburns do not get as bad if you even get sunburned. In addition people did have clothes to protect them and may have covered their skin in a thin layer of dirt to give them some protection. However I do suspect that some vikings had quite a bad time sailing from Denmark to Morocco or from Sweden to Istanbul and getting their first taste of the Mediterranean Sun after a winter in the cold dark north. It was too hot to wear clothes and the sun was too strong not no wear clothes. It is no surprise we have little evidence of viking battles in this part of the world even though they had a strong presence.
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