© Justin Tallis / AFP
A pioneering genetic analysis of the UK's oldest complete skeleton, which is around 10,000 years old, has revealed that the first modern Britons had a "dark to black" complexion.
The National History Museum carried out cutting-edge genetic sequencing and facial recognition technology on the 'Cheddar Man,' the skeleton found near Gough's Cave in the Cheddar Gorge, and found that the first British settlers had dark skin, dark curly hair and possibly blue eyes.
The research on the Mesolithic fossil undermines the commonly held assumption that a people's geographical origin is a determinant of skin color and physique.
"It really shows up that these imaginary racial categories that we have are really very modern constructions, or very recent constructions, that really are not applicable to the past at all,"said Tom Booth, an archaeologist at the Natural History Museum who worked on the project.
Most white people currently living in Britain are believed to have 10 percent of the skeleton's DNA.
"The combination of quite dark skin and blue eyes is something that we don't imagine is typical, but that was the real appearance of these people, something that's quite rare today," said Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum.
Before the Cheddar Man's lineage, there were around nine colonies of hunters, but it is understood that they were all wiped out by harsh temperatures. The Cheddar Man's 12,000-man fort, however, thrived in the climate. They lived in tents and hunted boar and deer using hunting dogs, and bows and arrows.
Yoan Diekmann, a computational biologist at University College London and another member of the project's team, agreed with Booth and called into question the link between Britishness and whiteness.
"The historical perspective that you get just tells you that things change, things are in flux, and what may seem as a cemented truth that people who feel British should have white skin, through time is not at all something that is an immutable truth," he said.
The Cheddar Man was already known to have been around five foot five inches tall, around 10 stone in weight, with good teeth. He died in his early 20s.
The research is in stark contrast to a previous reconstruction of the Cheddar Man by the University of Manchester in 1998, which thought the British ancestor to be white-skinned. Director of the study, Robert Stoddard, is remarkably reported to have said that the Cheddar Man probably "looked pretty much like any modern inhabitant of a Somerset pub."
The original model- composed without any access to genetic testing- also pictured the Cheddar Man to have straighter and lighter hair compared to the latest one.
"It may be that we may have to rethink some of our notions of what it is to be British, what we expect a Briton to look like at this time," Dr Rick Schulting, associate professor of archaeology at Oxford University, told the Daily Mail.
Genetically, the Cheddar Man belonged to the "Western Hunter-Gatherers", Mesolithic individuals from Spain, Hungary and Luxemburg.
His ancestors, however, are thought to have originated in Africa before moving to the Middle East and then Europe.
The European population has genes which are associated with reduced pigmentation, but the Cheddar Man was found to have "ancestral" versions of the genes, hence the new claim to "dark to black" skin tone.
Reader Comments
Where do they get a 12,000 man fort from ... if that was the case why do they only have a handful of bones?
Angola Manhas not survived, passing early and leaving no genetic mark. Angola Man was not black at all, but pale to the point of being bluish. This color was due to the transparency of the skin, which gave the oxygen depleted veins and capillaries on the surface dominance in setting the color tone. However, this was scarcely noticeable, as Angola Man was literally covered with hair, fine, short, and laying flat. This was not thick enough to be called fur, but should we have chosen to call the original races by their appearance, rather than point of origin, we would have called him Fuzzy Man. Angola Man was the least aggressive of the six races, and this is in no small degree why he passed early, leaving none of his genetic heritage in the vast billions that swarm the surface of the earth today. Angola Man literally allowed an attacker to overtake him while making neither a move to escape or to defend himself. He was eaten, regularly, until gone.Indonesian Manin the pure form also died out, but through casual encounters with Gypsy Man merged into what we will call Polynesian Man. The Australian Aborigines also can point to Indonesian Man for a large portion of their genetic heritage, being, like the new Polynesian Man, a combination of Gypsy Man and Indonesian Man, with the addition of some Black Man genes due to a highly promiscuous Black Man who traveled with a small band to that part of the world. As an oddity, and tall in stature compared to their tallest warrior, he was treated as a god and given all the women they could muster. He considered this a pleasant retirement. Indonesian Man was short and stocky, with a rounded belly. He had a dominant forehead which protruded out over his eye sockets, giving him the natural equivalent of shades. He was not swift, but moved in a ponderous manner, and thus his demise. He could not run for safety or rescue others quickly, and his lack of agility and rounded shape prevented him from taking to the trees or cliffs for safety. Indonesian Man had what we might describe as a stubborn rage that when lit would not soon quell. Where he stood to fight, and won some, he was invariably bested by large predators. He too was eaten, irregularly, until gone.Gypsy Man, as the name implied, moved about. His descendants can be seen in India and the surrounding countries, in the Arab countries, and, of course, in the Gypsies themselves. Gypsy Man was slight, and slid from confrontation, a factor of his hominoid genetics as well as the root ape, which took to the trees to escape and confronted only when escape was not possible. He learned to plot evasion rather than employ confrontation. This legacy can be seen today in the Gypsies, who disappear in the night, the Arabs, who likewise fold their tents and slip away, and the Hindus, who actively work at evading reality through meditation when they are forced to stick in one place and can find no escape. The hominoid contribution to Gypsy Man was Pleiadean, so a gentle, nonconfrontational nature compounded the desire to evade conflict. It is not by accident that Ghandi was able to sell the masses in India on passive resistance. It came naturally to them.Northern White Manfirst emerged in a climate that was not at that time cold, nor was it even in Europe or the steppes of greater Russia. White Man evolved in the desserts of Africa, and migrated across the Mediterranean, which in those days was not the water barrier it is today. White Man were few at first, a few hundred, and migrated in different directions. Some took a loop south, along the southern edges of what is now the Mediterranean, which in those days was a swamp, and then looped north and east. This band is seen in the large noble noses of the Turks, Afghans, and Italians. The band that headed straight north is seen in those with light hair and fine features. However all are from the same stock. Where White Man entered the world in temperate climes, bad weather descended during a subsequent pole shift and survival became a game not easily won. Warm clothing needed to be constructed and fur bearing animals trapped or hunted down with the least amount of effort. Survival required plotting and planning, and White Man found his stock being shaped in this manner, so that the clever planner survived. This can be seen today in the descendants of White Man, who are innovative and industrialized, and at the forefront of technology developments. Of the races that survived, White Man had the hottest temper. Quick, flashy, but quickly cooled. The root ape for White Man defended itself by a loud bluster, shrieking and hopping up and down. You've heard the expression, hopping mad, and this is where it comes from. White Man, even today, blusters and bluffs more than he engages.African Black Manalso underwent a shock to his system, but not because of climate changes. During the pole shifts the dice did not toss a pole into Africa, but the effects of winds and rain patterns brought dessert conditions. The particular hominoid stock forming Black Man emerged from a portion of the Family of Man that relied on physical skills and social harmony, and this was the legacy Black Man carried when the dessert descended, creeping over his hunting lands until there was less and less to share. Black Man adapted by broadening his embrace to include more of his fellows, and today you see this in the tradition of the extended family in most black communities. Black Man's inheritance was a combination of a benevolent large ape which spent a good part of its time basking in groups. Like the Elephant Seal, this ape had no natural enemies, so the population was held in check by surges in the food supply. Sometimes plenty, sometimes dearth. No need to fight, as there was nothing to fight over. The hominoid contribution created the capacity to plan, and did not detract from the ape tendency to social harmony. Larger family circles translated to forced civility for longer periods. Black Man learned to employ violence when outside the family circle, so this acted as a release for repressed rage not allowed to be expressed within the circle. Early Black Man was shaped by those factors, so that those able to suppress their irritability until they could release away from home were kept in the band, and the others expelled where they did not survive to reproduce. Black on black violence occurs, but seldom inside the family circle.China Manwas developed to offset the ruthlessness of the inhabitants of the 12th Planet, who interbred with humans during their mining operations. The Oriental is slight, and given to ponder and consider the feelings of many before proceeding. It was foreseen that Earth's humanity would grow and eventually blend, as it has, so the ultimate Earthling was the target, and China Man was engineered accordingly. The hominoid stock used to build China Man was from those least likely to be impulsive, where deliberation brought rewards and had thus been selected for survival during evolution. In addition, a different ape was chosen as the base, one with a placid nature, where the apes selected for the other races did not have this quality at the fore. These qualities can be seen today in the descendants of China Man, who consult with one another, proceed only when there is consensus, and succeed best at those endeavors that require group dedication.)HistoryTheory? Do you have a single reference?R.C.
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We can trust the N.H.M., right? So me googles Piltdown Man & NHM...
Well here's this from Wee Wee Pee Pee Ahh:
The identity of the Piltdown forger remains unknown, but suspects have included Dawson, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur Keith, Martin A. C. Hinton, Horace de Vere Cole and Arthur Conan Doyle.[13][14] Teilhard de Chardin had travelled to regions of Africa where one of the anomalous finds originated, and resided in the Wealden area from the date of the earliest finds. Hinton left a trunk in storage at the Natural History Museum in London that in 1970 was found to contain animal bones and teeth carved and stained in a manner similar to the carving and staining on the Piltdown finds. Phillip Tobias implicated Arthur Keith in helping Dawson by detailing the history of the investigation of the hoax, dismissing other theories, and listing inconsistencies in Keith's statements and actions.[15] Other investigations suggest the hoax involved accomplices rather than a single forger.[16]
Not conclusive, either.
R.C.
They did not have to waste time on any DNA tests. It's all in the history books, stones, whet have you.
Apart from that, basic common sense will appropriately guide, since the first people of the world were Ethiopians. And the Ethiopians civilized and directly controlled the world for 3,000 years. The continued through Egypt for a further 6,000 years. It's all there.
Please visit mycvp.com. Read the book - Ethiopia is Atlantis! Learn what you have never known.
Shalom