The original skin color of humans, after the development of hairlessness and prolonged exposure to UV radiation, was dark.
Here's a more detailed explanation:
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Early Humans and Hair Loss: As early humans evolved and lost their thick body hair, their skin became more exposed to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
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The Role of Melanin: Melanin is a pigment that protects the skin from the harmful effects of UV radiation. Individuals with more melanin have darker skin.
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Evolutionary Adaptation: In regions with high levels of UV radiation, darker skin was advantageous because it provided better protection against sunburn, skin cancer, and folate degradation (folate is essential for reproduction and fetal development).
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Timeline: Scientific evidence suggests that this adaptation to dark skin occurred in archaic humans, including archaic Homo sapiens, well before 100,000 years ago.
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Migration and Adaptation: As humans migrated to regions with lower UV radiation, such as northern latitudes, the selective pressure for dark skin decreased. In these areas, lighter skin, which allows for better vitamin D synthesis, became advantageous.
Therefore, considering the evolutionary context and scientific evidence, the ancestral human skin color was likely dark, which provided essential protection in the high-UV environments where early humans evolved.
