The Britons who built Stonehenge likely “displayed dark features”, archaeologists have uncovered in a major breakthrough.
Scientists in Italy analysed genomes from 348 individuals, which suggested that almost all Europeans had darker skin until around 3,000 years ago.
Samples were gathered from the British Isles, mainland Europe, Russia, central Asia and the Middle East.
Stonehenge, the mysterious structure outside Glastonbury, is thought to have been built around 5,000 years ago.
Experts say the people who built it likely had dark skin during this period.
The study confirms that the change to lighter skin, due to people’s movement to higher latitudes and, in turn, higher vitamin D intake, was slower than previously believed.
It is now thought that the majority of Europeans had dark skin, eyes, and hair until around 1,700 years ago. That includes the people who built Stonehenge.
Dr Silvia Ghirotto, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Ferrara in Italy who led the work, told The Telegraph: “By analysing ancient DNA from 348 individuals spanning 45,000 years, we reconstructed an intricate picture in which light pigmentation emerged sporadically during the first phases of our presence in Europe.
“Our ancestors had dark skin until very recent times.
“Given that Stonehenge was built during the transition from Neolithic to Bronze Age, and given the high frequency of dark-skinned samples we inferred for that period even in northern Europe, it is likely that Britons who built Stonehenge displayed dark features”.
Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. This world heritage site attracts millions of visitors each year who marvel at this only surviving lintelled stone circle of its kind.
Alongside attracting a host of wanderers, these ancient sights have also baffled experts and archaeologists when it comes to their origins.
According to recent research, the construction of Stonehenge coincided with the arrival of thousands of migrants from Europe in around 2500 BCE.
The influx of arrivals, mainly from Germany and the Netherlands, had completely displaced existing Britons by the time the stone circle was complete – potentially making it a “failed” exercise in community integration.
