Red Hair Gene Favoured by Natural Selection Over Last 10,000 Years, Study Finds

Scientists who analysed nearly 16,000 ancient human remains have found that the gene for red hair has been actively selected for by natural selection in Europe over the past 10,000 years.

The research, which examined DNA from ancient remains across West Eurasia—including Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and parts of Central Asia and North Africa—identified 479 genetic variants that have become more common due to directional selection. Among these were genes linked to red hair, fair skin, susceptibility to coeliac disease, and variants that reduce the risk of diabetes, baldness, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The study did not aim to determine why red hair was favoured, but researchers noted that the genetic variants associated with red hair and fair skin “plausibly reflect selection for increased synthesis of vitamin D in regions of low sunlight in farmers with little of it in their diets.”

Alternative explanations suggest that the red hair trait may have increased in frequency not since it was directly advantageous, but because it was genetically linked to other traits under strong selection—“perhaps having red hair was beneficial 4,000 years ago, or perhaps it came along for the ride with a more important trait.”

By comparing ancient DNA with modern genomes, the researchers demonstrated that human biological evolution has continued apace since the advent of agriculture, countering the idea that evolution has stalled in recent history.

The findings highlight how advanced genomic techniques now allow scientists to observe natural selection in real time by tracking how specific gene variants have changed in frequency over millennia.