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SKIN DEEP: MELANIN, MIGRATION, AND RACIAL MYTHOS IN ANTIQUITY

  • Writer: Heru
    Heru
  • Apr 12
  • 11 min read

Updated: Apr 12


Artwork created by The Kings Monologue The Inconvenient truth of BLACK Britain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fu2QzxCrik
Artwork created by The Kings Monologue The Inconvenient truth of BLACK Britain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fu2QzxCrik

The complex story of human evolution, migration, and the development of physical traits—especially skin pigmentation—intertwines deeply with cultural identity, historical memory, and the lingering legacies of colonialism. The emergence of pale skin among human populations is not merely a biological adaptation; it is a thread woven into broader narratives about race, power, and heritage. At the heart of this story is Africa—cradle of humanity, bearer of our shared origin, and the land from which early humans began their expansive journey across the globe.


Modern humans, or Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago.

When scientists sequenced Cheddar Man’s genome in 2018, they looked at specific genes that influence hair texture, skin pigmentation, and eye color. For hair texture, they analyzed variations in the EDAR and TCHH genes—these are associated with straight or curly hair traits. Cheddar Man’s genetic markers matched modern people who typically have tightly curled hair, along with dark to very dark skin and blue/green eyes—a combo that completely throws the "pale caveman" stereotype into the fire. As evolutionary geneticist Tom Booth put it, “This shows that the combination of blue eyes and dark skin was present in Britain around 10,000 years ago” (Sample, 2018).


What’s more, while modern Europeans often imagine themselves as direct descendants of ancient Britons, the genetic reality is more complicated. Most Euroasians today carry about 2.3%–2.6% Neanderthal DNA, reflecting differences in historical migration and interbreeding (Callaway, 2014). Although the percentage may seem small of little consequence, genentcailly and phenotypically speaking it is significant. Those ancient genes aren’t just fossils; they influence everything from immune response to skin and hair traits, and even how we process fat or react to illness. While each person only carries a bit, collectively humans outside Africa still retain around 40–60% of the Neanderthal genome, scattered across our DNA like ancestral confetti. In contrast, Black Africans populations are more genetically similar to Cheddar Man, carry little to no Neanderthal DNA—meaning they are more purely Homo sapiens unlike modern Europeans.


Researchers revealed the sequenced genome of Cheddar Man, revealing that this Mesolithic Briton likely had dark skin, blue eyes, and curly hair—challenging long-held assumptions about early Europeans. According to geneticist Susan Walsh, "It’s very surprising to think that these traits don’t go together—people assume that if you have lighter skin you have lighter eyes or the other way around, but that’s not necessarily the case" (Sample, 2018). This discovery not only rewrites the visual image of prehistoric Britons but also underscores the complexity of human evolution.


Sample, Ian. “Cheddar Man: DNA Shows Early Briton Had Dark Skin.” The Guardian, 7 Feb. 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/cheddar-man-dna-shows-early-briton-had-dark-skin


Genetic evidence overwhelmingly supports this view. One of China’s top geneticists Jin Li affirms, “Genetic evidence overwhelmingly supports the idea that all modern humans trace their origins to Africa, making the continent the birthplace of all human diversity” (Li, 2016). Our ancestors, possessing darker skin rich in melanin to protect against intense equatorial UV radiation, began migrating out of Africa roughly 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. As these populations moved into regions with less sunlight, particularly northern Europe and parts of Asia, they began to undergo biological mutations in response to new environmental pressures. One of the most striking adaptations was the development of pale skin. This shift occurred much later than the initial migration out of Africa—around 6,000 to 8,000 years ago.


DNA proves that modern Chinese people are direct descendants of Africans:


Genetic mutations, especially in genes like SLC45A2 and SLC24A5, played a central role. These genes affect melanin production, and their mutated forms became prevalent in populations living at higher latitudes. As Parra (2007) explains, “These genes are involved in the regulation of skin pigmentation, with mutations leading to lighter skin in populations that migrated to higher latitudes, where UV radiation was lower” (Parra, 2007).



 


Rethinking the "Back to Africa" Migrations: Melanin, Movement, and the Myth of Racial Difference


While these changes took place in Eurasia, they did not remain isolated. The story of human migration is not linear, and movement into Africa did not end with the initial out-of-Africa dispersals. The original “Back to Africa” migrations—referring to the return of human populations from Eurasia into Africa after the initial out-of-Africa dispersal around 60,000 to 80,000 years ago—involved people who were likely dark-skinned or, at the very least, significantly more melanated than the populations typically associated with Europe or Asia today. These return migrations occurred in multiple waves over thousands of years and had a profound influence on the genetic, linguistic, and cultural makeup of regions such as East Africa and the Horn. Earlier migrations from the Horn of Africa contributed heavily to the foundational populations of Egypt and the Levant.


"Ehret cited other genetic evidence which had identified the Horn of Africa as a source of a genetic marker “M35 /215” Y-chromosome lineage for a significant population component which moved north from that region into Egypt and the Levant."



Importantly, these returning populations were not phenotypically “foreign” to the continent. As anthropologist Nina G. Jablonski explains, “All modern humans share a common ancestor who lived in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago and was dark-skinned. Skin lightening in European and some Asian populations only began to evolve within the last 8,000 years” (Jablonski & Chaplin, 2000, Journal of Human Evolution).


This critical detail means that many of the Eurasian ancestors who migrated back into Africa were not pale-skinned. In fact, the genetic changes responsible for lighter skin pigmentation had not yet evolved—or were in their early stages—at the time of these return movements. Geneticist Sarah Tishkoff’s team and others have shown that Eurasian admixture in parts of Africa dates to around 3,000 years ago, and the people involved likely resembled today’s West Asians or North Africans more than Europeans (Skoglund et al., 2017, Nature).


Anthropologist John Relethford supports this by noting, “The earliest migrants out of Africa and their descendants would still have had dark skin—the lighter pigmentation associated with northern latitudes only evolved much later” (Relethford, 2001). Similarly, Norton et al. (2007) argue in PNAS that “the genetic changes responsible for lighter skin pigmentation in Europeans appear to have arisen long after the ancestors of modern humans left Africa and had already completed some return migrations.”


These findings challenge modern racial constructs that falsely assume ancient human populations aligned with contemporary notions of “Black” or “White.” Instead, they reveal a far more nuanced history—one where the movement of people was fluid, where skin tone was shaped by environment over time, and where African identity itself has always been dynamic. Understanding this helps dismantle colonial myths of human difference and restores complexity to the story of Africa’s role at the center of human history.


The original peopling of North Africa and its history of migrations both within the continent and beyond has often been distorted. Western colonial scholarship, deeply influenced by white supremacist ideologies, frequently sought to disconnect ancient North African civilizations from their African roots. This “whitewashing” of history served political and cultural agendas, promoting the myth of European superiority and denying the intellectual and architectural achievements of Black and African peoples.


As Walter Rodney incisively stated, “Colonialism has created a distorted understanding of African history and identity, with European powers systematically erasing the contributions of African civilizations” (Rodney, 1972). This academic "othering" is what led to the historically flawed designation of the so-called "Sub-Saharan" African—an artificial boundary drawn not by geography, but by the colonial urge to divide, diminish, and de-Africanize Africa itself.


Dr Kennedy explains the myth of the “Sub-Saharan” African & the white washing of Ancient North Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TydeOy6aHn0&t=65s


North Africa, once widely understood as an integral part of the African world, gradually became recast as something “other”—as part of the Middle East or the Mediterranean, rather than as African. The rise of Arab colonialism and the spread of Islam introduced new cultural dynamics. Arab identity, once rooted in language and religion, was increasingly racialized. Arabness became synonymous with social dominance, while Black African heritage was marginalized. Sherine Hafez highlights this shift: “The Arabization of North Africa during the Islamic period has led to the marginalization of indigenous African identities, with the concept of ‘Arabness’ becoming synonymous with cultural and political dominance” (Hafez, 2009).


In this context, many North Africans today grapple with complex identities—caught between Arab, Berber, and African lineages. In some cases, darker-skinned populations within North Africa face discrimination or are pressured to distance themselves from their African roots, due to lingering colonial hierarchies and internalized racial biases. The concept of “Arab” thus often reflects power and status rather than ethnic origin, contributing to identity struggles across the region.


Why North ’africans’ act primitively to Black History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBVwCO82gPA


These issues are compounded by deep-seated myths of racial purity. The fear of “genetic dilution,” particularly among pale-skinned populations, has historically driven racist ideologies. Michael Bradley’s The Iceman Inheritance explores how pale-skinned populations, emerging from harsh Ice Age conditions, developed cultural traits shaped by scarcity and survivalism. He argues that these conditions seeded a psychology of dominance and fear. Bradley writes, “The notion of genetic purity is central to the formation of racial hierarchies, with those at the top of the hierarchy fearing the dilution of their ‘superior’ genes” (Bradley, 1991). This fear has been passed down through generations, contributing to the white supremacy that continues to influence cultural attitudes and historical scholarship.




 


Blackness & the Primordial Origins of Creation:


The mythos surrounding blackness and creation exist from the very dawn of civilization from the Sumerians, or rather the Sa-gi-gi which translates to the "Black Headed People", to the Children of the Sun who were formed from the rich black soil of the Nile River. From the Nile to the Euphrates Blackness has historically been linked with divinity.


In the ancient Hellenistic world, the term Aithiops translates to “burnt-face,” derived from aithō (to burn) and ōps (face), and was used to describe dark-skinned people, associated with various populations that inhabited ancient Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, and more widely associated with India, Chaldea and Thrace. In Hesiod’s Theogony, and more clearly in Homer’s Odyssey, Aithiopians are portrayed not as inferior, but as righteous and favored by the gods—so much so that even deities like Poseidon and Zeus travel to their lands to feast among them.


In Homer’s Iliad (Book 1, lines 423–425), it's stated that the gods, including Zeus, Poseidon, and others, travel to feast with the Aithiopians, described as “blameless” and deeply favored by the divine:


“But Zeus had gone yesterday to the Ocean to feast with the blameless Ethiopians, and all the gods followed.” (Iliad 1.423)


Far from being marginalized, Aithiopians occupied a sacred and noble status in early Greek mythology, reflecting a worldview that saw Black Africans as spiritually elevated and mythically significant. In Theogony, Hesiod mentions the Aethiopians as being favored by the gods and described as part of the "golden race," representing a time of peace and prosperity. The poem alludes to the Aethiopians as “the most just” among mortals, which suggests a level of respect and admiration from the Greek perspective (Hesiod, 2019). Their inclusion in the narrative as part of the golden race indicates their importance not only as a geographical reference but also as representatives of moral virtue in the mythological framework.


Religious and mythological narratives play a powerful role in shaping ideas of race and identity. In Islam, the story of Adam’s creation from black clay is one of the earliest symbolic references to Blackness. According to Muhammad al-Jabari, “The creation of Adam from black clay in Islamic tradition symbolically links Blackness with both divinity and racial discord” (al-Jabari, 1999). When Iblis (Satan) refused to bow to Adam, it set a precedent for racial arrogance and the rejection of divine equality.


Similarly, in ancient Egyptian mythology, the god Khnum crafted human beings from the black clay of the Nile, reinforcing the sacred and primordial role of Blackness in human creation. The indigenous name of ancient Egypt is Kemet (𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖), which translates to "the Black Nation" or "Black Land." This term has been associated both with the rich black soil of the Nile Valley and the people themselves. The determinative symbol 𓊖 signifies a nation or country.


Additionally, the god of the underworld, Osiris—indigenously known as Ausar—was revered as the “Divine Black.” His depiction and symbolism underscore the deep spiritual significance attributed to Blackness in early African cosmology associated with kingship and the embodiment of divine power. Renowned historian, Jacques R. Pauwels speaks on the roots of African identity and nomenclature trace back to ancient linguistic traditions that linked blackness with divinity and origin.


“According to Semerano, the Semitic root khem/kham means ‘dark’ or ‘black’, also in the sense of ‘burned black’. In the Akkadian language of Mesopotamia, qamu signified ‘burned’, and the Hebrew cognate of this term is ham. We recognize this root in the Biblical ethnonym “Hamites”, which refers to the descendants of Ham (or Cham), one of the three sons of Noah, namely, the one whose offspring were predestined to populate Africa. In other words, the Hamites were the inhabitants of Africa, the “black” people, the “people with the burned faces”.


Ancient Egypt was the land of the “Kemites”, and the study of this fascinating culture ought therefore to be known as “Kemitology”. Instead, we speak of the land of Egypt and Egyptology.”


Jacques R. Pauwels, 2010, Beneath the Dust of Time: A History of the Names of Peoples and Places, Battlebidge Publications, Pg. 22


The rejection of the Black African heritage, particularly in the context of North Africa, is a symptom of a larger global struggle with race and identity deeply connected to the legacy of colonialism. The whitewashing of history, the denial of Black African roots, and the discomfort with the Black origins of major ancient civilizations reflect the ongoing effects of colonialism and the racial prejudices that have shaped our understanding of history. By embracing the genetic and historical evidence that links all humans to Africa, we can begin to dismantle the racist structures that have long distorted our understanding of human origins.



Despite overwhelming genetic, historical, and mythological evidence pointing to Africa as the birthplace of not only civilization but all humanity, mainstream narratives continue to marginalize or erase Black African contributions while the legacy of colonialism, both Western and Arab, remains etched into global consciousness. This distortion of history has not only fueled racial hierarchies and cultural erasure but also shaped educational systems, media portrayals, and national identities across continents—reinforcing a worldview where African civilizations are either ignored, misrepresented, or disconnected from their profound influence on the foundational aspects of civilization and pillars of modern society. From mathematics and medicine to spiritual philosophy, architecture, and early governance, the foundational achievements of ancient African societies.


This historical amnesia not only deprives people of African descent of their rightful heritage but also impoverishes the global narrative by obscuring the true interconnectedness of human progress. Correcting this requires more than inclusion—it demands a re-centering of Africa as a core architect of civilization, worthy of study, respect, and acknowledgment in every domain of human endeavor. In the end, the story of pale skin is not a story of superiority or separation. It is a story of adaptation—a small thread in the rich and interwoven fabric of humanity’s journey. The truth of our origin is that we are all African, and the color of our skin tells a tale not of division, but of resilience, survival, and migration. Recognizing this truth is essential not only for historical accuracy but for healing the wounds of racial injustice and reclaiming a more unified human narrative.



 

References:

Sample, Ian. “Cheddar Man: DNA Shows Early Briton Had Dark Skin.” The Guardian, 7 Feb. 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/cheddar-man-dna-shows-early-briton-had-dark-skin


Callaway, Ewen. “Neanderthals and Modern Humans Interbred Thousands of Years Earlier than We Thought.” Nature, 20 Feb. 2014. https://www.nature.com/news/neanderthals-and-modern-humans-interbred-thousands-of-years-earlier-than-we-thought-1.14734


al-Jabari, M. (1999). Race and Revelation: Symbolism in Early Islam. Cairo University Press.


Bradley, M. (1991). The Iceman Inheritance: Prehistoric Sources of Western Man’s Racism, Sexism, and Aggression. Third World Press.


Hafez, S. (2009). An Islam of Her Own: Reconsidering Religion and Secularism in Women’s Islamic Movements. NYU Press.


Li, J. (2016). Genomic perspectives on human migration and skin color adaptation. Beijing Genomics Institute Lecture.


Parra, E. J. (2007). Human pigmentation variation: Evolution, genetic basis, and implications for public health. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 50, 85–105.


Rodney, W. (1972). How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications.


Skoglund, P., Mallick, S., Bortolini, M. C., Chennagiri, N., Hünemeier, T., Petzl-Erler, M. L., ... & Reich, D. (2017). Genetic evidence for two founding populations of the Americas. Nature, 525(7567), 104-108.


Sykes, B. (2007). Blood of the Isles: Exploring the Genetic Roots of Our Tribal History. Bantam Press.


 

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