Europeans had dark skin, blue eyes 7,000 years ago (CBC)

CBC News
Posted: Jan 27, 2014 10:27 AM ET Last Updated: Jan 28, 2014 8:08 AM ET

A genetic analysis of an ancient European hunter-gatherer reveals that his face was a striking combination of dark skin and blue eyes.

Spanish researchers recovered DNA material from the 7,000-year-old skeletal remains of two specimens, nicknamed La Brana 1 and La Brana 2.

Lead researcher Carles Lalueza-Fox, with the Spanish National Research Council, said the genetic tests on a molar tooth belonging to one specimen, La Brana 1, indicate that scientists' assumptions about when Europeans developed light complexions were way off the mark.

"The biggest surprise was to discover that this individual possessed African versions in the genes that determine the light pigmentation of the current Europeans, which indicates that he had dark skin," Lalueza-Fox said.

Scientists had believed that Europeans with light complexions evolved early during the Upper Palaeolithic era (between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago), soon after Europeans left Africa and arrived in Europe. But the latest findings show that La Brana 1 still had dark skin and had been around the continent for 40,000 years, meaning fair skin probably evolved millennia later.
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more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/europeans-had-dark-skin-blue-eyes-7-000-years-ago-1.2512465
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v507/n7491/full/nature12960.html




Not exactly LBN, but I hadn't seen this before. Apologies if dupe.

ETA: I thought maybe this had something to do with the Toba Catastrophe, but the time interval is off by a factor of 10.