Dark Skin Was Common in Europe 5,000 Years Ago, Study Finds

A new study suggests that the majority of Europeans living 5,000 years ago, including those who built Stonehenge, likely had dark skin. Researchers at the University of Ferrara in Italy analyzed data from 348 genomes of human remains dating from 45,000 to 1,700 years ago. The study found that 92% of Europeans in the Paleolithic period (13,000 to 35,000 years ago) had dark skin, with 8% having intermediate skin tones. None had pale skin. DNA from the Iron Age (1,700 to 3,000 years ago) showed that 55% of people still had dark skin, 27% had intermediate skin, and only 18% had pale skin. Scientists believe that modern humans migrated from Africa to Europe and Asia about 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. As humans migrated into regions with lower ultraviolet (UV) radiation, lighter skin became more common to allow more UV light to penetrate the skin for vitamin D production. Silvia Ghirotto, an evolutionary biologist, noted that the shift towards lighter skin was slower than expected. The study, published on the pre-print server bioRxiv, indicates that Britons who built Stonehenge likely had dark features.