Skin Deep is a 2010 documentary from the Smithsonian Channel that follows the work of anthropologist Nina Jablonski and other scientists as they try to discover the story of the evolutionary development of human skin pigment. Skin Deep traces the story of human skin evolution back to our early common ancestors in Africa and the eventual migration of humans out of Africa 120,000 years ago. Anthropologist Nina Jablonski and her scientific colleagues postulate the effects of the climate, diet and other environmental changes on the evolutionary development of the diversity seen in human skin pigment across the world.
Smithsonian summary of the documentary:
Skin color both unites and divides us. For centuries, it has been used as a marker of race, but groundbreaking research is changing the way we see ourselves, and each other. Join anthropologist Nina Jablonski and scientists around the world as they uncover the intricate relationship between our pigment and our environment. We reveal how the world’s sepia rainbow of skin color is an adaptation to the sun’s UV rays and our diet. Exposing the fact, that in a time of mass migration, we must address the mismatches between our color and our new surroundings.
Skin Deep (2010)
