People in the Near East (Syria, Lebanon, etc) had genes for light skin before most of Europe did, with the exception of Scandanavia. "Whiteness" may have arrived in Europe in three waves, one of which came from the Anatolian farmers that introduced farming and urban life to the continent. Those same farmers, who were similar/near to the Syrian farmers that invented agriculture, interbred with the continental European hunter-gatherers. So technically, a large % of Europeans can say that they have Middle Eastern ancestors and that they got the roots of civilization from Syria. That's without getting into the huge gene flow that later came in from the Caucuses/Indoeuropean Yamnaya culture.
What I found really interesting was that 10,000 BC, Britain was populated with blue-eyed people with dark skin. They got mostly replaced by Anatolians, who then built the Stone Henge and occupied Britain for a few thousand years. Anatolians were then replaced by continental Europeans (who by then had been breeding with the progeny of other Anatolians for thousands of years). At least while the Anatolians were around, the remaining dark-skinned natives, who were dwindling in number, resorted to inbreeding so as not to dilute their genes. Clearly they didn't care for lighter skin.
Ya, archaeogenetics is a real trip. The field can upend our already flimsy notions of race and the narratives that come with it. Modern sequencing technology is yielding huge new results on a frequent basis.
"Once the first farmers from the near East began to arrive in Europe, and who carried both genes for light skin, they began breeding with the “indigenous hunter gatherers”. One of the depigmentation genes became prominent throughout Europe to the point where central and southern Europeans developed lighter skin."
What I found really interesting was that 10,000 BC, Britain was populated with blue-eyed people with dark skin. They got mostly replaced by Anatolians, who then built the Stone Henge and occupied Britain for a few thousand years. Anatolians were then replaced by continental Europeans (who by then had been breeding with the progeny of other Anatolians for thousands of years). At least while the Anatolians were around, the remaining dark-skinned natives, who were dwindling in number, resorted to inbreeding so as not to dilute their genes. Clearly they didn't care for lighter skin.
Ya, archaeogenetics is a real trip. The field can upend our already flimsy notions of race and the narratives that come with it. Modern sequencing technology is yielding huge new results on a frequent basis.