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Like many other comments here, it seems way too much of a coincidence that blue-eyed and only blue-eyed people descend from this ancestor 10,000 years ago. If the recessive blue gene first appeared in that person, it is most certainly logical that any person who is a carrier of at least one blue-eyed gene also descends from this particular ancestor, no doubt. I can see the article's point in trying to find out where and how the blue-eyed gene arose from the predominant brown-eyed gene which is quite interesting. However, I do not like the implication it gives about the link between this ancient person and blue-eyed people as an isolated entity. After all, there are certainly people who have fully dominant eye color genes, very dark color, and yet still descend from this ancestor.

For example, consider this lineage of descent: a blue-eyed person who descended from this blue-eyed ancestor (or even this particular person) mated with a brown-eyed person and had brown-eyed offspring. Their brown-eyed offspring intermingled with other dark-eyed people and had dark-eyed offspring. This process of continued intermingling with brown-eyed people repeated and ultimately resulted in many dark-eyed (and probably dark hair and dark skin) people carrying all dominant eye color genes who still descend from this ancient person. So while it is arguable that such people may not be related to this ancestor through eye color genes, they still carry at least a minute number of genes somewhere in their genome of this ancestor. Furthermore, these people could really stretch their argument by stating that whatever little bit of genes they inherited from this ancestor are in every cell of their body and while the genes may not control eye color directly, the cells in the iris of the eyes still contain the bit of genes from that ancestor.

Statically speaking, it is said that many people with European ancestry are descended from Charlemagne and he only lived about 1,200 years ago. Many more people descend from the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt who lived 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Considering this criteria, the bottom line is you can’t help but think that the vast majority of the people in the world descend from someone who lived 10,000 years ago including people of all races (Whites, Blacks, Arabs, Indians, Asians, and many other indigenous people-you name it).

Since the first people arose in Africa, they had dark eyes due to the climate; hence brown eyes (and all other dark genes) came from Africa. But my mom has green eyes and I am wondering where and how that gene mutated? It this gene can be traced to a certain ancient person, how long ago did this person live and what geographical area did this take place? The same research should be done on all other eye colors like grey, hazel, amber, and even the rare red and violet colors.