7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date For Light-Skin Gene

12/3/2016
7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date for Light-Skin Gene
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7,000-Year-Old
Human Bones
Suggest New Date
for Light-Skin Gene
By Tia Ghose, Sta Writer
LiveScience.com January 26, 2014
What to Read Next

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An illustration of what the ancient hunter-gatherer may have
looked like
Associated Press
An ancient European hunter-gatherer man had dark

skin and blue eyes, a new genetic analysis has
revealed.
The analysis of the man, who lived in modern-day
Spain only about 7,000 years ago, showslight-skin
genes in Europeans evolved much more recently
than previously thought.
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The ndings, which were detailed today (Jan. 26) in

the journal Nature, also hint that light skin evolved
not to adjust to the lower-light conditions in Europe
compared with Africa, but instead to the new diet
that emerged after the agricultural revolution, said
study co-author Carles Lalueza-Fox, a
paleogenomics researcher at Pompeu Fabra
University in Spain.
Sunlight changes
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Many scientists have believed that lighter skin

gradually arose in Europeans starting around 40,000
years ago, soon after people left tropical Africa for
Europe's higher latitudes. The hunter-gatherer's
dark skin pushes this date forward to only 7,000
years ago, suggesting that at least some humans
lived considerably longer than thought in Europe
before losing the dark pigmentation that evolvedThree Drunks on Train Harass Woman in Hijab,
under Africa's sun.
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"It was assumed that the lighter skin was something

needed in high latitudes, to synthesize vitamin D in
places where UV light is lower than in the tropics,"
Lalueza-Fox told LiveScience.
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had assumed
this was
true because
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people need vitamin D for healthy bones, and can

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synthesize it in the skin with energy from the sun's
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UV rays, but darker skin, like that of the hunter- Protesting the Dakota Access pipeline
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gatherer
man, prevents
absorption.
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But the new discovery shows that latitude alone

didn't drive the evolution of Europeans' light skin. If
it had, light skin would have become widespread in
Europeans millennia earlier, Lalueza-Fox said.
Mysterious nd
In 2006, hikers discovered two male skeletons Try Prilosec OTC. You cant beat ZERO
buried in a labyrinthine cave known as La Braa-HEARTBURN*!
Arintero, in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain.
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[Images of the Ancient Skeletons]

At rst, ocials thought the skeletons may have
been recent murder victims. But then, an analysis
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revealed the skeletons were about 7,000 years old,

and had no signs of trauma. The bodies were
covered with red soil, characteristic of Paleolithic
burial sites, Lalueza-Fox said.
NASA photo reveals a startling 300-foot-wide

rift in Antarctic Ice Shelf
At the time of the discovery, genetic techniques
Mashable
weren't advanced enough to analyze the skeletons.

Several years later, the team revisited the skeletons
and extracted DNA from a molar tooth in one
skeleton. (The other skeleton had been sitting in
water for millennia, so his DNA was more degraded,
Lalueza-Fox said.)
Blue eyes, dark skin
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The new analysis of that DNA now shows the man

had the gene mutation for blue eyes, but not the
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European mutations for lighter skin.

The DNA also shows that the man was more closely
related to modern-day northern Europeans than to
southern Europeans.
The discovery may explain why baby blues are more
common in Scandinavia. It's been thought that poor
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revolution
there, soFinance
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Dr. Saturday
conditions in northern Europe delayed the
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have more genetic traces of their hunter-gatherer

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past including a random blue-eye mutation that
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emerged in the small population of ancient hunterNews Home
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gatherers,
Lalueza-Fox
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Skin changes
The nding implies that for most of their
evolutionary history, Europeans were not what many
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people today would call 'Caucasian', said GuidoAgora Financial
Sponsored
Barbujani, president of the Associazione Genetica

Italiana in Ferrara, Italy, who was not involved in the
study.
Instead, "what seems likely, then, is that the dietary
changes accompanying the so-called Neolithic
revolution, or the transition from food collection to
food production, might have caused, or contributed
to cause, this change," Barbujani said.
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In the food-production theory, the cereal-rich diet of

Neolithic farmers lacked vitamin D, so Europeans
rapidly lost their dark-skin pigmentation only once
they switched to agriculture, because it was only at
that point that they had to synthesize vitamin D from
the sun more readily.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand
Google+.FollowLiveScience @livescience,
Facebook& Google+. Original article
onLiveScience.
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Copyright 2014 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork
company. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date For Light-Skin Gene

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12/3/2016

7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date for Light-Skin Gene

What to Read Next

Green Party switches strategy in Pennsylvania

An ancient European hunter-gatherer man had dark

MJ Has Pretty Much Given Up On His Son.

7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date for Light-Skin Gene

The ndings, which were detailed today (Jan. 26) in

Woman Delivers Baby While on the Phone With

Many scientists have believed that lighter skin

"It was assumed that the lighter skin was something

people need vitamin D for healthy bones, and can

But the new discovery shows that latitude alone

Prilosec OTC Sponsored

[Images of the Ancient Skeletons]

7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date for Light-Skin Gene

revealed the skeletons were about 7,000 years old,

NASA photo reveals a startling 300-foot-wide

At the time of the discovery, genetic techniques

weren't advanced enough to analyze the skeletons.

Index: Multiple Bird Strikes Force Jetblue Fligh

The new analysis of that DNA now shows the man

ABC News Videos

European mutations for lighter skin.

conditions in northern Europe delayed the

have more genetic traces of their hunter-gatherer

emerged in the small population of ancient hunterNews Home

Government Insider delivers urgent warning

people today would call 'Caucasian', said GuidoAgora Financial

Barbujani, president of the Associazione Genetica

7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date for Light-Skin Gene

In the food-production theory, the cereal-rich diet of

7,000-Year-Old Human Bones Suggest New Date for Light-Skin Gene

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