A 17,000-year-old infant with the earliest known instance of blue eyes and a heart condition has been discovered in Italy. Genetic analysis of the remains reveals he likely had dark skin, curly dark brown/almost black hair, and a mutation allowing him to digest milk.
An unlucky child born with a heart condition 17,000 years ago also had the earliest known instance of blue eyes . Based on genetic data from his remains, found in what's now Italy , the infant most likely had blue eyes , dark skin, and curly dark brown/almost black hair. He also likely had a mutation that would have allowed him to digest milk as an adult. He also likely had unusually thickened heart muscles, caused by a typically inherited condition.
Measuring a mere 82 centimeters (32 inches) in length, the remains suggest a life cut short, with his age at death estimated between 7.5 and 18 months. Histological analysis of the infant's teeth and a healed fracture on his collarbone indicated he had a tough birth and had already experienced other stresses too. 'The analyses revealed a slightly earlier development than the average of modern European populations and at least nine episodes of physiological stress, three of which occurred during intra-uterine life,' The infant's mother likely endured some stresses during her pregnancy, and may have been malnourished. An isotopic analysis suggests she stayed put in one place during at least the final period of her pregnancy. This was in the same area the child was born and lived his short life. Archaeologists from the University of Siena discovered the prehistoric child's skeletal remains in 1998. They were found tucked away, without any final possessions or adornments, behind rock slabs in the Grotta delle Mura cave of Monopoli, Puglia, on Italy's southwest coast. OCA2 suggests all blue-eyed humans today, which can now make up up to 40 percent of some current European populations, can be traced back to a single mutation that arose in Europe between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago
BLUE EYES HEART CONDITION ANCIENT REMAINS ITALY GENETIC ANALYSIS
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