What did ancient Europeans look like: an unexpected discovery

Most ancient Europeans retained dark skin, hair, and eye color until the Iron Age, about 3000 years ago. The results of a new study evidence this.

Scientists have found that the genes responsible for lighter skin, hair, and eye shades appeared in European populations about 14,000 years ago, at the end of the Paleolithic period, also known as the Stone Age. However, according to the study's senior author, a geneticist at the University of Ferrara in Italy, Silvia Ghirotto, these traits remained rare until relatively recently. Live Science reported this.

Scientists suggest that lighter skin gave Europeans a certain evolutionary advantage, as it helped the body produce more vitamin D in conditions of insufficient sunlight. At the same time, blue or green eyes probably did not carry significant advantages, and their spread could be the result of chance or sexual selection, Ghirotto said.

The researchers analyzed 348 samples of ancient DNA obtained from archaeological sites in 34 countries in Europe and Asia. The results of this study were published on February 12 on the bioRxiv preprint server.

The oldest DNA sample, 45,000 years old, belonged to a person from Ust-Ishim in Western Siberia. Another well-preserved sample was obtained from an individual from Sweden, aged about 9,000 years.

Since many of the old DNA samples were damaged, the scientists used the method of "probabilistic appearance prediction" and the HIrisPlex-S system to determine the likely phenotypes. This technology makes it possible to estimate skin, hair, and eye color even from fragments of genetic data.

Paleoanthropologists believe that the first Homo sapiens appeared in Europe about 50,000-60,000 years ago. Since they were not far removed from their African ancestors, they initially had dark skin, hair, and eyes, Ghirotto said.

Even after the appearance of lighter features about 14,000 years ago, they remained rare for a long time. It was only about 3,000 years ago, during the Iron Age, that these traits began to become widespread.

According to the study, dark skin remained common in some regions of Europe until the Copper Age, and sometimes even later. Light eyes began to appear in the north and west of the continent between 14,000 and 4,000 years ago, although dark skin and hair were still prevalent.

Genetic variants responsible for light skin appeared in the area of modern Sweden around the same time as light eyes but initially remained few. Researchers have recorded a kind of "surge" in the prevalence of blue and green eyes, indicating that they were very popular at the time.

Carles Lalueza Fox, a paleogeneticist at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona, said it came as a surprise to him that some Europeans retained genes for dark pigmentation until the Iron Age. He added that while the new study clearly shows when light features appeared, the ultimate reasons for their evolutionary advantage remain unclear.

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