Natural selection has altered the appearance of Europeans over the past 5,000 years

Ancient DNA from archaeological skeletons shows that European’s had darker skin, hair, and eye pigmentation 5,000 years ago 

Grave with an about 5,000 years old skeleton from a kurgan of the Yamnaya culture near the town Kirovograd in Ukraine. photo: Alla V. Nikolova

There has been much research into the factors that have influenced the human genome since the end of the last Ice Age. Anthropologists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and geneticists at University College London (UCL), working in collaboration with archaeologists from Berlin and Kiev, have analyzed ancient DNA from skeletons and found that selection has had a significant effect on the human genome even in the past 5,000 years, resulting in sustained changes to the appearance of people. The results of this current research project have been published this week in an article entitled "Direct evidence for positive selection of skin, hair, and eye pigmentation in Europeans during the last 5,000 years" in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). [...] uni-mainz.de

Link 2: Dark pigmentation of Eneolithic and Bronze Age kurgan groups from eastern Europe (B&W 3)
This is a very exciting new study that seems to parallel some results from early west Europeans. The authors invoke selection as a possible cause for the massive change in frequency between the Bronze Age and present-day Ukrainians...

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Actualización 12-03-14. La "selección natural" ha alterado el aspecto de los europeos en los últimos 5.000 años
Se ha investigado ampliamente acerca de los factores que han influido en el genoma humano desde el fin de la última Edad de Hielo. Antropólogos de la Universidad Johannes Gutenberg de Mainz (JGU) y genetistas del University College de Londres (UCL), en colaboración con arqueólogos de Berlín y Kiev, han analizado ADN antiguo procedente de esqueletos y han descubierto que la selección ha tenido un efecto significativo sobre el genoma humano incluso en los últimos 5.000 años, dando como resultado cambios sostenidos en la apariencia de la gente...