Sorry for all the Southern European threads, but I have to ask this. I made a poll -- for each ethnicity you know enough about, try to guess if they have gotten lighter or darker.
People seem to be under the impression that Southern Europeans used to be lighter but have gotten darker due to mixture with Middle Easterners and North Africans. I think the opposite. I can't count how many times people have quoted True Romance with the "Sicilians used to be blue eyed blondes and then the Moors showed up so now they're darker" line, and I've even heard it twice in real life.. if anything I think the population has gotten lighter due to Norman, Swabian etc. influences and if you were to go there in 800 BC, you'd find hardly any blue eyes or blonde hair at all.
Ancient Greeks is a more complicated case so I won't even touch that one. But people generally take three routes with this one.. some people think that they used to be much lighter than today and got darker due to mixing with West Asians/Turks/the influx of Pontian and Anatolian Greeks, etc. while others think Greeks used to be much darker in ancient times and got lighter due to Slavic, Balkan etc. influences. Some people also think Greece has not undergone much if any change.
Iberians, I think have stayed pretty much the same.
Italians is a complicated one. A lot of people believe ancient Romans were Nordic, and Italians have gotten darker since but there has not been a significant influx into Italy from the south or east to explain how they would have become darker. Instead I think they have either gotten lighter, or stayed the same.
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