For context, the paper compared this score to that of a modern Sardinian: Sardinians are among the most Anatolian-farmer-descended modern Europeans and have darker average skin than northern Europeans, but lighter skin than sub-Saharan Africans. Ötzi’s score was higher than the sample Sardinian value. The paper also noted that the LBK farmer and Loschbour hunter-gatherer ancient individuals had still higher dark-pigmentation scores, suggesting that Ötzi’s value was elevated compared to modern southern Europeans but not at the top of the range among ancient Europeans.
Albert Zink, the head of the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies, described the finding in press communications as representing “the darkest skin tone that has been recorded in contemporary European individuals” — though this characterization reflects the comparison to modern European reference populations, not to all ancient individuals in the dataset. The darker pigmentation also addressed a longstanding question about the mummy itself: the preserved skin has a dark brownish appearance. This had previously been attributed primarily to the desiccation and chemical changes that occur during ice mummification. The 2023 genomic analysis suggests that at least some of the dark coloration reflects the man’s actual skin tone in life, not only the effects of preservation.
What the genomic prediction cannot establish is an exact shade or appearance. Pigmentation is a complex trait influenced by many genetic variants, and population-level GWAS associations capture only part of the genetic architecture. The 170-SNP model was trained on modern populations with modern allele frequencies; applying it to an ancient individual involves assumptions about how well those associations transfer across five thousand years of genetic history. The paper’s conclusion — that Ötzi likely had darker skin than previously depicted, darker than modern southern Europeans — is a probabilistic statement about a predicted range, not a determination of a specific color.