BEFORE the advent of farming, humans were probably lactose intolerant and poorer at digesting starchy food, according to new research published in the journal Nature.
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Scientists analysed two male skeletons of hunter-gatherers who lived in Spain about 7000 years ago discovered in 2006, and found the adoption of farming may have resulted in changes to genes associated with immunity and diet.
"The study represents the first complete pre-agricultural genome from Europe and hints at some of the changes that the advent of farming may have wrought on hu- man physiology," a Nature spokesman said.
Scientists from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Barcelona, Spain sequenced the genome of one of the men by using DNA extracted from a tooth.
They found one of the men was probably lactose intolerant and poorer at digesting starchy food than Neolithic farming people, supporting the idea these changes came in with the adoption of agriculture
They also found the man probably had dark skin and hair but blue eyes, suggesting changes in eye colour came before lighter skin tones.
"Analysis of the hunter-gatherer's genome in the context of other ancient samples suggests the existence of a common ancient genomic signature across western and central Eurasia," according to the journal.
