Do Blue Eyes Originate From The Black Sea?

Author:
Nell Rose
Updated:
Mar 18, 2018

Turkish Village similar to the one with blue eyed people www.pappaspost.com

Blue eyes are an amazing mutation that stems from a single individual around 8,000 years ago. When we gaze into they eyes of famous people such as Leonardo DCaprio and David Beckham we don't really think about why and how they have blue eyes.

I have recently watched the TV Program Meet The Izzards where TV personality Eddie Izzard is given a once in a lifetime opportunity to trace his ancestors back through time on his mothers side, to the original African ancestor. Evidently according to scientists we all have a common ancestor named Eve, no not that Eve, this was the original African link to all the humans alive today.

On his journey through time he was directed to go around the world and meet up at the place where his genetic marker showed a slight change. Following the map we were shown where his ancestors, and ours, began their first migration out of Africa, ending up in a region of Turkey on the Black Sea.

Blue Eyes And Farming

According to the research it was suggested that blue eyes were a side effect of farming animals such as goats and cows.

It was the process of drinking milk that changed the genetics. Evidently brown eyed people throughout history had never been able to stomach milk. Literally.

After drinking milk from their mothers, babies outgrew milk and became lactose intolerant. Milk wasn't part of their staple diet, and it was only with the migration to Turkey and the beginning of settlement farming that people started to drink milk.

The blue eyed mutation was a side effect according to the scientists on the program.

There is another suggestion that states lighter skinned people have adapted genetically because they need to process vitamin D more so than their brown eyed counterparts. This was not covered, but looking at the Turkish families on the program showed that they did indeed have blue eyes.

Neolithic migration 6,000 to 10,000 years ago took two different paths. One settled in Turkey and then headed either in to Europe or the Mediterranean, and the other migrants missed out Turkey and either stayed within Africa, went straight to Europe, or travelled down to Australia where we know them today as Aborigines.

Modern Turkish Woman With Blue Eyes www.dailymail.co.uk

Sexual Selection

The genetic leap that shows blue eyed people came from this small area of Turkey has been talked and argued over for a number of years.

But it seems that it has now been proven without a doubt. Blue eyed people originated in that part of Turkey around 8,000 years ago. Nowhere else on the planet did or has any blue eyed genetics from that period or after.

The question was, if there were so few blue eyed people, how did they manage to not only survive but thrive to such an extent that we have thousands today?

The answer was that back in the Neolithic times and since, the tribes of people began to see blue eyes as something special. When the brown eyed males of the tribe were out hunting, the few men that were left behind to protect the tribe had an abundant of females to chose from. The blue eyed woman was selected over all the rest because of her special appearance. And this continued over the years until there were millions of us blue eyed girls and guys.

I often wondered why I felt so at home when I visited Turkey and Greece. Now I know. I was just following the path of my mother, or should I say my mothers ancestors. And mine of course.

To think of that great migration over thousands of years, with all those people settling in each country on their way and maybe ending up in England like my ancestor did, is an awe inspiring thought. It makes me feel quite humble. Maybe with the common ancestor we all have we should start thinking of peace in the world. Lets face it, we are all related.

c) copyright Nell Rose

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Comments

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on February 28, 2020:

Hi, Nicholas. Turkey back in the day was named the Ottoman Empire. Around 500 years ago, it was called Torke, then In 1923 modern Turkey was renamed The Republic of Turkey.

Nicholas on February 28, 2020:

What was in the place of present-day Turkey some say 500 years ago?

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 28, 2018:

I have read the seven daughters of eve, totally fascinating. and yes Genghis Khan's dna is very prolific in Scotland I believe. Thanks for the info, I am 16 percent Norwegian/Swedish so good to know! lol!

hjljones on March 28, 2018:

My dna markers are R1b on my father's side and J2 on my mother's. Overall, the genetic cross section is typical for the British Isles.

R1b folk movements came out of the Iberian refuge area after the last Ice Age, 12-15 thousand years ago and after, travelling up the Atlantic coast and settling in the British Isles and elsewhere in Europe. The J group is directly descended from the neolithic farmers and its located origin is between North Syria and Anatolia.

There were four main refuge areas in Southern Europe during the Ice Age; Iberia, Italy , the Balkans & the Ukraine.

There are three main Y chromosome markers for Western Europe,

R1b for Iberia, the I or Ivan gene from the Balkans and the R1a gene from the Ukrainian refuge. There is a scattering of other male markers but they are the main three in the west.

As you move East the incidence of R1b declines and the R1a climbs up as you get into Eastern Europe peaking in Poland at nearly 60% and Russia & Ukraine in the mid 40's. Finland bucks the trend, here, with the Finnish N gene, 60%.

There are seven main female mitochondria markers with somewhat more variation than the male markers. That is down to, what is known, as the Genghis Khan effect. Whenever one male led group dominates another they tend to hog all the women for themselves or have first choice. So what happens is that the politically dominant males will impregnate a greater variety of women. One example of this is that the R1b chromosome is carried by 75% of males in Britain and over 85% in Ireland. A legacy of nastier times.

There's are two interesting books on the subject by Bryan Sykes, The Seven Daughters of Eve and the Blood of the Isles.

Genghis Khan's Y chromosome is believed to be found in 250,000 descendants today and a quarter of a million of males in these lands conquered by the Mongolian armies have Y chromosomes inherited from Mongolian soldiers.

Back to old blue eyes. It is believed that the Balkans I1a gene was carried by groups who were among the first to practise the domestic selection process concerning preferment of blue eyes. Mass dna profiling of the European population and advanced dating techniques in conjunction with archaeological finds has enabled the plotting of the various movements of people, northwards in this case, after the last Ice Age and the Younger Dryas. The I1a clan did indeed take the classical route up the Danube, directly north into Scandinavia and spreading through Germany, west to Britain and East to the Baltic. The Scandinavian lands average over 30% of males with I1a Y chromosome markers with other North Sea and Baltic lands averaging 12-16%.

That is why the I1a dna marker is known as the Nordic gene.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 27, 2018:

How interesting! I am doing my dna and yes what you say is pretty clear on there too. maybe you should do yours? its fascinating. thanks again.

hjljones on March 27, 2018:

Recent research considers that modern humans emerged from Africa some 70 - 100 thousand years ago by way of the Horn of Africa. They landed in an area we now know as the Yemen. From there they spread to the Middle East, Mesopotamia, Iran, India and beyond. It is estimated that the Aborigines you mention reached Australia some 50-60 thousand years ago. This is thousands of years before the colonization of Europe.

Even so, the migration of Europeans into Europe began at least 25 thousand years ago. There's an interesting book on the subject, Out of Eden, by Stephen Oppenheimer.

The spread of the Neolithic Farmers, beginning 9-10 thousand years ago, began in Anatolia (modern day Turkey) reaching North Europe around 6-7 thousand years ago and was responsible for the spread of the Indo-European languages throughout Europe and Western Asia, see Archaeology and Language, The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins by Colin Renfrew, 1987. The neolithic farmers did not migrate to Turkey at the time you mentioned because they were already there. The Middle East was a hotbed of innovative practices in farming and other techniques and these advantages through trade and possibly military superiority influenced the change in languages from Iberia to the Urals,

from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia and from Anatolia to India.

As far as we know none of the out of Africa migrants went straight to Europe or Anatolia but headed north to the Middle East and further east into Asia and, as I pointed out, Australia and elsewhere.

As the populations grew there was backward migrations from India, Iran and the Caucasus into Europe.

As far as I can remember the initial Danish research team claimed that the first blue eyed person, a male, was born in an area on the North western coast of the Black Sea. Have they changed their mind?

According to the research the phenomenon began with a single, out of the blue, mutation and depended on domestic selection for its spread. There is a chronological coincidence here with the spread of farming and blue eyes. The Balkans would have been the first part of Europe to come under the influence of the Anatolian farmers and as the revolutionary farming techniques spread the blue eyed phenomenon would have been carried along with it into Northern Europe, up the Danube, into Hungary, Germany and on to Scandinavia.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 26, 2018:

I think its because it started back around 10,000 years ago in that area hj. People have migrated north ever since, settling in Scandinavia. In fact my dna proves it! lol! long story. thanks for reading.

hjljones on March 26, 2018:

If blue eyes evolved in Anatolia why is it that the area with the greatest incidence of blue eyes centres on Scandinavia and fans out in Northern Europe getting less intense the further south you go?

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 23, 2018:

Could be hj. Maybe look it up? you might find a long lost relative! good luck!

hjljones on March 23, 2018:

I had two molar teeth out on different occasions and both teeth had three root stems, two at one end of the tooth and one at the other. Both dentists were surprised and said it was the first time they had seen anything like it. Could this be a genetic abnormality?

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on September 24, 2017:

LOL! Hiya Paula! I would love to see you stuff David Beckham in your trunk! How funny! always great to see you, and you always make me laugh! LOL! love ya back!

Suzie from Carson City on September 23, 2017:

Nell...Hey there girlfriend, you blue-eyed beauty, you. You somehow manage to teach me things I never knew! This is all news to me. Thank you!

Listen honey, total honesty...the only thing I wonder when I look at David Beckham is how I'm going to render him unconscious and stuff him in my trunk!!.........Love ya, Paula

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on September 23, 2017:

Wow! I will definitely have to give it a go! Thanks Rebecca!

Rebecca Mealey from Northeastern Georgia, USA on September 22, 2017:

Well, I do know we are 1% African so it must go pretty far back!

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on September 22, 2017:

Thanks Rebecca, yes me too, and my son. I will do a DNA test myself soon and yes double check if it comes up! not sure how far back those tests go though, we are talking around 10,000 years or so here.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on September 22, 2017:

Thanks Susan, glad you liked it, nell

Rebecca Mealey from Northeastern Georgia, USA on September 22, 2017:

Fascinating! My son has my blue eyes, and he had one of those DNA analyses done. I will look and see if this area is in his genetic makeup.

Susan Zutautas from Ontario, Canada on September 22, 2017:

Very interesting!

Joanna Chandler from Caribbean on August 24, 2014:

Seems like i always tickle you from sooooo many miles away amma take that as a career tickling people lol.

Joanna Chandler from Caribbean on August 24, 2014:

I guess Hits "hitler" is lactosing right this minute shitting his nazi suit every time he sees a Jew. Ammma send him a truckload of milk for himto keep filthing until God is ready for him on judgement day he he he.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on August 24, 2014:

LOL! I only just saw your comment! thanks for making me laugh I needed it!

Joanna Chandler from Caribbean on August 24, 2014:

Lol oh yeah you know he stops at nothing actually he is here in Trinidad my former director acted like hitler an evil vindictive maniac . I will send him across to deal with you. Yes sweedie i know the pronounciation for where you live. Not forgetting your hub that stays very vivid in my mind about yelling over a 20,000 crowd its Bis-ham you dumb ass.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on August 24, 2014:

Mine probably! lol! enjoy your drink, and no milk!

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on August 24, 2014:

lol! Jo! no, not quite Bisham pronounced Bis-ham just in case anybody insists on calling it Bisham arghhh! lol! that's what happens here, they move in and call the next town bish-am when its bis-ham! if he is reincarnated he can go do it somewhere else! LOL!

Joanna Chandler from Caribbean on August 24, 2014:

Woman! You sure bring out my crazy side i don't know whose screws are slacker is it yours or mines ? I am eating and drinking soft drink/ soda too bad i aint got box milk :(:(

Joanna Chandler from Caribbean on August 24, 2014:

Ha ha ha i like how you said evil man with you southern Bisham accent lol. Yes i heard it ;) You be careful nell i am sure he could be re-incarnated and residing in England lmao he will let his top men send you off to Bisham concentratiin camp. Where you will meet Adolf Eichman, Heindrich Himmler and Hans they won't spare you, know your facts about those Austria blue eye babies Adolf was the first crazy ...... lol

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on August 24, 2014:

LOL! I love your humor! yes he wouldn't like knowing where blue eyes came from would he? evil man!

Joanna Chandler from Caribbean on August 24, 2014:

Nell i think if you raise that lunatic Adolf Hitler from the dead he will give you the exact location of the first ever blue eye baby such a whimp was he lol or maybe he'd doubt your hub and tell you it was Austria where he was born. You knew blue eyes fascinated that evil bastard.

Anyway lol quite interesting info about the milk and eye colours mine is brown so i am not considered aryan nor lactose intolerant, Hitler would have sured slaughter me UGH!. Praise God because i bless the day cows were born I LOVE BOXES MILK he he he.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on July 21, 2014:

Hi Mike, thanks for reading, sorry about the slip up, but its one of those things that could be either way I suppose, who chose who, lol! seriously, its fascinating isn't it? I do believe it was the fact that the blue eyes made them stand out in the tribe as they were treated as someone higher or either like a tribe leader or maybe even a king. thanks for commenting, nell

Mike on July 21, 2014:

I found most of this article insightful and interesting, until I read the part pertaining to the neolithic mating fiction... even during the neolithic, women, despite being the weaker sex, chose their mates, rather than men choosing their female partners.

Perhaps the women chose blue-eyed males to bear children with due to some factor relating to social position, perceived attractiveness, or maybe their ability to produce or acquire food....

Then again, as stated, perhaps it was just that people thought (and continue to) that blue eyes were "something special".

Obviously, blue eyes must have some conferred evolutionary advantage, as they are the only mutation that has spread so fast through such a large part of the earth.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 25, 2014:

Thanks Mystic, yes its amazing isn't it? I always said I love Greece! lol! well its only a stones throw from Turkey!

MysticMoonlight on March 24, 2014:

Wow, interesting stuff here, Nell. So surprising, I would've never thought...very intriguing.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on June 06, 2013:

Hi rose, thanks so much, I am glad you liked it, at least it explains why I love Greece so much, just over the border! haha!

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on June 06, 2013:

Hi john, lol! thanks for the laugh, and glad you liked it, nell

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on June 06, 2013:

Hi heidi, lol! a long time ago! fascinating though, isn't it? thanks for reading, nell

rose-the planner from Toronto, Ontario-Canada on June 06, 2013:

Wow, this is quite interesting. Both my parents have greenish eyes and my older brother and I have the same but one brother has piercing blue eyes. Of course, there is blue on both my mom and dad's side but it's interesting to know where the blue coloured eyes derive from. Great article! (Voted up) -Rose

John R Wilsdon from Superior, Arizona on June 06, 2013:

Poor boys left at the camp not allowed to hunt! Gives a new meaning to the expression, "He's got the blues!" Nice hub.

Heidi Thorne from Chicago Area on June 06, 2013:

And here I thought it was because of my German-Dutch heritage! Well, now I've got some Turkish in me somewhere. Very interesting!

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on June 06, 2013:

Hi ishwaryaa, thanks so much for reading, eye color is fascinating isn't it? thanks!

Ishwaryaa Dhandapani from Chennai, India on June 06, 2013:

A wonderful & knowledgeable hub! Genetics always fascinate me. I find blue eyes very pretty, particularly in babies. 99 percent of my family members, including myself, have black eyes with brown tint except my father who have a pair of wholly blazing almond-brown colored eyes! Once again, a very engaging hub. Well-done!

Thanks for SHARING. Useful, Awesome & Interesting. Voted up & shared

Huntgoddess from Midwest U.S.A. on March 12, 2013:

Heh, heh, thanks Nell. Same to you, dear.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 10, 2013:

Hi Alastar, lol! you got us there! but we do make a great Baileys with ice!

Hi Huntgoddess, lol! great to see you! thanks!

Huntgoddess from Midwest U.S.A. on March 09, 2013:

LOL Alastar & Nell; --- You two make a great team! I can't stop chuckling, that's so cute.

Tyvm.

Alastar Packer from North Carolina on March 08, 2013:

Ha ha Nell -they have been know to time travel to English pubs for the warming effects of Guinness beer!

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 08, 2013:

Hi Alastar, I think I know that four foot hairy proto human family, saw them last week in the pub! lol! seriously, sounds fascinating, thanks so much for reading, and have a great weekend, nell

Alastar Packer from North Carolina on March 08, 2013:

This some very interesting info on the origins of blue eyes. Yes, imagine those left behinds liked the fair-eyed damsels. I like all eye colors in women but blue is really attractive. Nice hazel is cool too. Was reading were America's top military remote viewer was tasked to find out the origins of humanity on Earth. He saw a four foot, somewhat hairy, proto-human family frolicking on the beach some 40,000,000 years ago. I know it's off subject here a bit but intriguing nonetheless. Up and inter Nell!

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 08, 2013:

Hi bravewarrior, I believe it follows on from parent to child,maybe it can skip a generation? not sure, sounds fascinating though, thanks for reading, nell

Shauna L Bowling from Central Florida on March 08, 2013:

This is very interesting. I'm the only one in my immediate family with blue eyes. My maternal grandfather had blue eyes. It is my understanding the gene that results in blue eyes is recessive and shows up every other generation. Is that true?

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 07, 2013:

Hi girishpuri, thank you so much, I glad you liked it, nell

Girish puri from NCR , INDIA on March 07, 2013:

Very interesting and well researched hub, thanks for addition to my knowledge. God bless.

Nell Rose (author) from Buckinghamshire UK on March 06, 2013:

Hi pras, thanks so much, glad you liked it, nell

Hi Joy, thanks for reading, glad you found it interesting, nell

Joy56 on March 06, 2013:

my eyes are very blue, but never knew there origin, but i do now, thanks for that.

prasetio30 from malang-indonesia on March 05, 2013:

What a beautiful hub, my friend. I have never heard about this. I think most of people from the west (the people who live outside my Asia) have the blue eyes. But I am totally wrong. Thanks for writing and share with us. I learn something new here. Voted up!

Prasetio