
DNA testing of "Cheddar Man," a British skeleton dated at 10,000 years old, totally changes our understanding about race.
An extraordinary new study could totally change our perceptions about race after examining a British skeleton dated 10,000 years old that belonged to an individual known as “Cheddar Man.” Scientists had assumed the man was light-skinned when they first discovered him due to a belief that all early Britons had such complexions, but scientists managed to recreate his face, including skin pigmentation, and they found that this Brit was a dark brown.
It is the oldest complete skeleton ever found in Britain, and it is so named because it was found in 1903 in a cave near Cheddar, a village in southwest England. The skeleton has been a subject of tremendous study in the more than a century since, and now new technology is allowing researchers at the Natural History Museum and University College London to totally recreate his face based on a genetic analysis.
Scientists were able to determine this by extracting DNA from bone powder collected from the skull of the skeleton. Cheddar Man’s genetic material was well-preserved enough so that the research team was able to sequence his genome and rebuild his face. The findings will be featured in an upcoming documentary called “First Brit.”
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