Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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How Did Blond Hair & Blue Eyes Spread to Europe?
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:36 True Origins of Blue Eyes
2:46 Origins of Blond/Blonde Hair
4:21 How Did Blond Hair & Blue Eyes Spread to Europe?
5:30 What About the Indo-Europeans? Yamnaya
6:56 Bell Beakers
7:17 Corded Ware Culture
8:18 Vote for Video Topics
8:34 Attractiveness Theory
9:09 Adaptive Advantage?
9:34 Vikings
Look at this map that shows the countries with the most people with blue eyes in the world. Now look at this map that shows the countries with the most people with naturally blond hair in the world. As you can see, there is a strong overlap in Scandinavia and the northeast of Europe. Countries like Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia as well as Iceland (which was settled by the Norse), have the highest levels of people with blond hair and blue eyes in the world. Why is this though, and when did this phenomenon of blond hair and blue eyes first develop, and how did it spread to Europe?
Now let’s start by looking at the origins of blue eyes and blond hair. First up is blue eyes, and I often see people on the internet quoting outdated information on the origin of blue eyes. This is because the initial research came from a team from the University of Copenhagen in 2008 who identified the genes involved in blue eye color developing in humans.
Sources:
Mathieson I et al. The genomic history of southeastern Europe. Nature. 2018 Mar 8;555(7695):197-203. doi: 10.1038/nature25778. Epub 2018 Feb 21. PMID: 29466330; PMCID: PMC6091220. The Genomic History of Southeastern Europe - PMC (nih.gov)
Iosif Lazaridis et al. A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia.Science377,940-951(2022).DOI:10.1126/science.abq0755
Bronze Age Britain (warwick.ac.uk)
Malmström, H. et al. The genomic ancestry of the Scandinavian Battle Axe Culture people and their relation to the broader Corded Ware horizon - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological SciencesVolume 286, Issue 1912 2019 doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1528
Recent origin of the ‘blonde hair-blue eye phenotype’ combination: Corded Ware culture | by Andreas Weber | Medium
Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor | ScienceDaily
The Genetics of Blond Hair | Science | AAAS
Eiberg, H., Troelsen, J., Nielsen, M. et al. Blue eye color in humans may be caused by a perfectly associated founder mutation in a regulatory element located within the HERC2 gene inhibiting OCA2 expression. Hum Genet 123, 177–187 (2008). doi.org/10.1007/s00439-007-0460-x
Ancestral contributions to contemporary European complex traits | bioRxiv
Skin colour and vitamin D: An update - Hanel - 2020 - Experimental Dermatology - Wiley Online Library
Fu, Q., Posth, C., Hajdinjak, M. et al. The genetic history of Ice Age Europe. Nature 534, 200–205 (2016). doi.org/10.1038/nature17993
Günther T,. et al. Population genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation. PLoS Biol. 2018 Jan 9;16(1):e2003703. doi:
10.1371/journal.pbio.2003703. PMID: 29315301; PMCID: PMC5760011.
Population genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation - PMC (nih.gov)
Creative Commons Imagery:
Dark Tichondrias File:Light hair coloration map.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Peter Frost File:Eye color map Europe.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution 4.0 International - Creative Commons
पाटलिपुत्र World map: DalGobboM - Phenotype map: Andrea Hanel, Carsten Carlberg File:Archaeogenetic analysis of human skin pigmentation in Europe (with Asia geographic extension).png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Jbuket पाटलिपुत्र File:Eastern Hunter Gatherer.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Matteo De Stefano/MUSE File:Homo sapiens - Neolithic - reconstruction - MUSE.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Wojciech Pędzich, Robert Molyneaux File:Yamnaya phenotype, Reconstruction, male, grave Novooleksiivka; Ukraine.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
scandinavian hunter gatherers -
#blueyes #blondehair #ancestry
Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded: youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1
Vote For the Video Topics You Want to See - patreon.com/historydecoded
How Did Blond Hair & Blue Eyes Spread to Europe?
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:36 True Origins of Blue Eyes
2:46 Origins of Blond/Blonde Hair
4:21 How Did Blond Hair & Blue Eyes Spread to Europe?
5:30 What About the Indo-Europeans? Yamnaya
6:56 Bell Beakers
7:17 Corded Ware Culture
8:18 Vote for Video Topics
8:34 Attractiveness Theory
9:09 Adaptive Advantage?
9:34 Vikings
Look at this map that shows the countries with the most people with blue eyes in the world. Now look at this map that shows the countries with the most people with naturally blond hair in the world. As you can see, there is a strong overlap in Scandinavia and the northeast of Europe. Countries like Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia as well as Iceland (which was settled by the Norse), have the highest levels of people with blond hair and blue eyes in the world. Why is this though, and when did this phenomenon of blond hair and blue eyes first develop, and how did it spread to Europe?
Now let’s start by looking at the origins of blue eyes and blond hair. First up is blue eyes, and I often see people on the internet quoting outdated information on the origin of blue eyes. This is because the initial research came from a team from the University of Copenhagen in 2008 who identified the genes involved in blue eye color developing in humans.
Sources:
Mathieson I et al. The genomic history of southeastern Europe. Nature. 2018 Mar 8;555(7695):197-203. doi: 10.1038/nature25778. Epub 2018 Feb 21. PMID: 29466330; PMCID: PMC6091220. The Genomic History of Southeastern Europe - PMC (nih.gov)
Iosif Lazaridis et al. A genetic probe into the ancient and medieval history of Southern Europe and West Asia.Science377,940-951(2022).DOI:10.1126/science.abq0755
Bronze Age Britain (warwick.ac.uk)
Malmström, H. et al. The genomic ancestry of the Scandinavian Battle Axe Culture people and their relation to the broader Corded Ware horizon - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological SciencesVolume 286, Issue 1912 2019 doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1528
Recent origin of the ‘blonde hair-blue eye phenotype’ combination: Corded Ware culture | by Andreas Weber | Medium
Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor | ScienceDaily
The Genetics of Blond Hair | Science | AAAS
Eiberg, H., Troelsen, J., Nielsen, M. et al. Blue eye color in humans may be caused by a perfectly associated founder mutation in a regulatory element located within the HERC2 gene inhibiting OCA2 expression. Hum Genet 123, 177–187 (2008). doi.org/10.1007/s00439-007-0460-x
Ancestral contributions to contemporary European complex traits | bioRxiv
Skin colour and vitamin D: An update - Hanel - 2020 - Experimental Dermatology - Wiley Online Library
Fu, Q., Posth, C., Hajdinjak, M. et al. The genetic history of Ice Age Europe. Nature 534, 200–205 (2016). doi.org/10.1038/nature17993
Günther T,. et al. Population genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation. PLoS Biol. 2018 Jan 9;16(1):e2003703. doi:
10.1371/journal.pbio.2003703. PMID: 29315301; PMCID: PMC5760011.
Population genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation - PMC (nih.gov)
Creative Commons Imagery:
Dark Tichondrias File:Light hair coloration map.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Peter Frost File:Eye color map Europe.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution 4.0 International - Creative Commons
पाटलिपुत्र World map: DalGobboM - Phenotype map: Andrea Hanel, Carsten Carlberg File:Archaeogenetic analysis of human skin pigmentation in Europe (with Asia geographic extension).png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
Jbuket पाटलिपुत्र File:Eastern Hunter Gatherer.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Matteo De Stefano/MUSE File:Homo sapiens - Neolithic - reconstruction - MUSE.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Wojciech Pędzich, Robert Molyneaux File:Yamnaya phenotype, Reconstruction, male, grave Novooleksiivka; Ukraine.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
scandinavian hunter gatherers -
#blueyes #blondehair #ancestry
