An unfortunate child born with a heart condition 17,000 years ago also possessed the earliest known instance of blue eyes.
According to genetic evidence from his remains discovered in what is now Italy, “the infant likely had blue eyes, dark skin, and curly dark brown/almost black hair,” University of Bologna archaeologist Owen Higgins and his team stated in their paper.
Similar to many individuals in the Paleolithic era, the ice age child did not have the genes necessary to digest milk as an adult. Additionally, he probably had abnormally thickened heart muscles, a condition typically inherited.
With a length of only 82 centimeters (32 inches), the remains indicate a life cut short, with the estimated age at death ranging between 7.5 and 18 months.
An analysis of the infant’s tooth structure and a healed collarbone fracture pointed towards a difficult birth and other stresses the child had experienced.
“The analysis revealed a slightly faster development compared to the average of modern-day European populations and at least nine instances of physiological stress, three of which occurred during intra-uterine life,” Higgins explained.
The stress markers align with the genetic findings indicating that the child had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a congenital heart disease associated with sudden death in youth.
The mother of the infant likely experienced some stress during her pregnancy and may have been malnourished. Isotopic analysis suggests she stayed in one place during the final stages of her pregnancy. This place was where the child was born and lived his short life.
In 1998, archaeologists from the University of Siena uncovered the skeletal remains of the prehistoric child. These remains were discovered hidden behind rock slabs in the Grotta delle Mura cave of Monopoli, Puglia, on the southwest coast of Italy.
“Genetic analysis revealed a close kinship between the child’s parents, leading to the assumption that they were likely first cousins,” University of Florence molecular anthropologist Alessandra Modi clarified, “a scenario seldom found in the Paleolithic era but more prevalent during the Neolithic period.”
Blue eyes result from a mutation in the gene OCA2, decreasing the body’s ability to produce melanin pigment for brown eyes. A mutated OCA2 gene was also identified in the ice-age boy.
Genetic analysis indicates that all present-day blue-eyed individuals, now comprising up to 40% of certain European populations, can be traced back to a single mutation that originated in Europe between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.
The previously oldest known blue-eyed individual dated back around 14,000 years ago, known as the Villabruna man. The similarities in eye color and other genetics suggest that the boy’s community may have been ancestors of the Villabruna man.
This study was published in Nature Communications.
