As recently as a few hundred years ago many Europeans had dark tans because they spent their few decades alive working long days in the sun. But that was tannin

As recently as a few hundred years ago many Europeans had dark tans because they spent their few decades alive working long days in the sun. But that was tanning and long term skin damage, not genetic. There was an anthropological time period in early humanity when people migrating out of Africa hadn't yet genetically adapted to having lighter skin tones. I don't know if the pop science is actually trying to depict that period accurately, or if it's an anachronistic cargo cult phenomenon.