The Cheddar Man rolls out a surprise
They call him Cheddar Man.
He lived more than 10,000 years ago, had brown hair, blue eyes and “dark to black” skin. To the surprise of many, he is believed to have been the first modern Briton.
A new project from London’s Natural History Museum and University College London has revealed groundbreaking DNA results that give a much clearer image of early British inhabitants. Cheddar Man’s skeleton was discovered in 1903 in Gough’s Cave, located in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. It is thought that the cool temperature in the cave helped to preserve the skeleton’s valuable DNA.
Scientists drilled a 2mm hole in his skull and extracted bone powder for DNA. Initially, it was assumed that the man, who died in his 20s, had pale skin, but new analysis and facial reconstruction have revealed the opposite.
It is now believed that Cheddar Man’s ancestors arrived in Britain via the Middle East after leaving Africa. “Cheddar Man is special because he represents the population occupying Europe at the time,” said Tom Booth, a bio-archaeologist at the museum. “They had dark skin, and most of them had pigmented eyes, either blue or green.” Data and software used in forensics gave a clearer understanding of Cheddar Man’s skin pigmentation. Experts say he was a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer who would have carved tools, fished and hunted animals. It is believed he is related to 1 in 10 people living across the UK today.