Cheddar Man — a hunter-gatherer who lived 10,000 years ago — had blue eyes, dark colored curly hair and ‘dark to black’ skin pigmentation, according to new research.
Cheddar Man’s facial reconstruction. Image credit: University College London / Natural History Museum, London / Tom Barnes / Channel 4.
Cheddar Man is the oldest almost complete skeleton of Homo sapiens ever found in Britain.
It was unearthed in 1903 in Gough’s Cave at Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, and has been the topic of constant mystery and intrigue.
For over a century, scientists have tried to reveal his story, posing theories as to what he looked like, where he came from and what he can tell us about our earliest ancestors.
Only now with world-leading research, cutting-edge DNA and facial reconstruction can we see for the first time the face of this prehistoric man, and ask how 300 generations later he relates to us today.
The pioneering work was carried out by a team of DNA researchers and prehistoric model makers from University College London and the Natural History Museum, London, UK.
“I first studied Cheddar Man more than 40 years ago, but could never have believed that we would one day have his whole genome — the oldest British one to date,” said Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum.
“To go beyond what the bones tell us and get a scientifically-based picture of what he actually looked like is a remarkable — and from the results quite surprising — achievement.”
To collect a sample of Cheddar Man’s bone powder for analysis, the scientists drilled a tiny, 2-mm wide hole into the ancient skull.
As the DNA was unusually well-preserved, possibly due to the cool, stable conditions in the limestone cave, they extracted sufficient genetic information to inform the facial reconstruction, as well as other genetic characteristics.
“To extract ancient DNA from a human or animal what you’re looking for is a dense bone which might have protected the DNA inside it as much as possible,” said Dr. Selina Brace, of the Natural History Museum.
“We used to use leg bones or teeth as the thick bones and enamel keep DNA quite intact, but in the last two years we’ve shifted to using the petrous, or inner ear bone, which is the densest bone in the human body.”
The team then used a hi-tech scanner to render Cheddar Man’s skull in full 3D detail, fleshing it out with facial features based on the results of the scientific research.
“Cheddar Man’s genetic profile places him with several other Mesolithic-era Europeans from Spain, Hungary and Luxembourg whose DNA has already been analyzed,” said Professor Mark Thomas, of University College London.
“These Western hunter-gatherers migrated into Europe at the end of the last Ice Age and the group included Cheddar Man’s ancestors.”
“Today, around 10% of indigenous British ancestry can be linked to that population.”
“Until recently it was always assumed that humans quickly adapted to have paler skin after entering Europe about 45,000 years ago,” said Dr. Tom Booth, a postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum.
“Pale skin is better at absorbing UV light and helps humans avoid vitamin D deficiency in climates with less sunlight.”
“However, Cheddar Man has the genetic markers of skin pigmentation usually associated with sub-Saharan Africa.”
“This discovery is consistent with a number of other Mesolithic human remains discovered throughout Europe.”
“Cheddar Man is just one person, but also indicative of the population of Europe at the time. They had dark skin and most of them had pale colored eyes, either blue or green, and dark brown hair,” Dr. Booth said.
“He subverts people’s expectations of what kinds of genetic traits go together.”
“It seems that pale eyes entered Europe long before pale skin or blond hair, which didn’t come along until after the arrival of farming.”
“He reminds us that you can’t make assumptions about what people looked like in the past based on what people look like in the present, and that the pairings of features we are used to seeing today aren’t something that’s fixed.”
