The new study adds to this growing pile of evidence. Earlier work done with the genes of the 83 people in the new study, supported by linguistic evidence, also shows that populations in Europe about 8,000 years ago would have been mixed and diverse. The researchers write that their analysis suggests that light skin was not yet widespread and ubiquitous in Europe at the time. This man, however, lived just 7,000 years ago. But researchers are now learning that other factors must have been at play.įor example, earlier this year, the genome sequencing of a hunter-gatherer who lived in what is now Spain helped build the case that Europe was home to blue-eyed but dark-skinned people. A sun lower in the sky and shorter day lengths would have favored skin that more easily synthesized vitamin D. The new data, presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, comes from the genomes of 83 people found in archeological sites across Europe, reports Ann Gibbbons for Science.įor years, researchers assumed that skin lightened as humans migrated from Africa and the Middle East into Europe, about 40,000 years ago. New analysis of ancient European genes shows that other traits we associate with modern Europeans, such as tallness and the ability to digest milk, are also relatively recent additions to the continent’s genetic profile. As Europeans divided and conquered much of the world, they carried the genes for light skin with them. But even Europeans haven’t been white for very long.
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