My grandparents were all from Norway. My dad said the same about his father who had brown eyes, black hair and olive skin. Thought for sure he had the blood of some Mediteranian beauty taken on a pillage.
Until dad went up north and visited with the Sami (sp?). He came back and said “Oh - now I know where dad got his features!”
“Until dad went up north and visited with the Sami (sp?).”
I have thought of that. Maybe I will do the dna testing, but I don’t know which ancestor it tracks. I don’t look like my great grandparents, for coloring.
But it traces back along my male line to Sweden, if the Laps/Sami are an answer. (father 50% Swede, grandfather 100% Swede and great grandfather & grandmother all have dark brown/black hair). Me medium brown.
Their language is Uralic, like Finish, Hungarian and Estonian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people
Finally I note many Germans and Austrians also have dark hair, and I doubt they are Sami.
Far more likely is that the Germanic people had a variety of hair colors, period. And that it was that way without introducing other “races” from the Mediterranean, Turkey, Lapland, etc.