British scientists have decoded the genome of their most ancient ancestor - the so-called Cheddar man. And they recreated its appearance.
“We didn't expect our distant ancestor to turn out to be black,” says Prof Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum, who led the research that ended in a sensational reconstruction, with surprise. “But these are the results of the genetic analysis.
According to the BBC, museum workers and fellow scientists from University College London have isolated nearly intact DNA from human remains that were discovered back in 1903 in Gough's Cave, located in the Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, England. The cave itself was discovered in 1890 by Captain Richard Cox Gough, after whom it was named - Gough's Cave.
A copy of the skeleton of the Cheddar man lies in Gough's cave - in the same place where the real skeleton was found.
Archaeologists have recovered a complete human skeleton that has lain in the cave for nearly 10 thousand years. It became the oldest ever found in the British Isles. That is, he revealed the remains of a prehistoric local resident - one of the first who settled here - the Cheddar man, as they began to call him.
The real skull of the Cheddar Man.
Naturally, British scientists wanted to see what their distant ancestor looked like. And they carried out the first reconstruction 20 years ago - without any genetic research. That is, at random. The ancestor turned out to be a plump pink-cheeked brown-haired man. Which, as it turned out now, was not true.
Now, having understood the DNA of the Cheddar man, scientists have determined: his skin was dark brown, his hair was black and curly. In a word, a negro. Or an Afro-European, as it would be politically correct to call him now. Blue eyes.
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The blue-eyed was about 166 centimeters tall. Died at the age of 20. Most likely he was killed by cannibals from a neighboring tribe - cannibalism among the ancient British, and even among the Europeans, was very common. But for some reason the Afro-European who was in store for lunch was not eaten. The body remained in the cave.
Having made a polymer copy of the skull of the Cheddar man and guided by the instructions of British geneticists, the appearance of their distant ancestor was artistically recreated by twin brothers from Holland Alfons and Adrie Kennis - famous reconstructors of prehistoric creatures. It turned out to be a cheerful dark-skinned kid.
The appearance of the 'first Briton' (center) recreated by the Cannis brothers, guided by the instructions of British geneticists.
Scientists claim that in those distant times - 10 thousand years and earlier, not only the British, but also the "mainland" Europeans were the color of chocolate. "Lightened" about 6 thousand years ago. This, by the way, was announced by the Norwegians from the University of Oslo a few years ago. One of the authors of that study, Johan Moan, assured that the settlers had to gradually part with dark skin due to changes in the diet - at a time when people began to switch from eating food obtained from hunting and fishing to food grown in the fields … And she did not provide the body with the necessary amount of vitamin D. To fill the gap, evolution also brightened the ancestors, due to which the vitamin began to be produced under the influence of ultraviolet radiation.
Cheddar man, recreated 20 years ago. No, the first Briton was not like that.
Correct ancestor, recreated thanks to modern technology and knowledge accumulated by geneticists.
The ancestors of the Cheddar man, as scientists believe, came to Europe from the Middle East, mixed there with immigrants from Africa who left it about 40 thousand years ago. Some made it to the British Isles - got there by dry land. It happened about 15-11 thousand years ago. Just at that time, a narrow isthmus connected the islands with the mainland.
Apparently, before the Cheddar Man was saved for lunch, he managed to leave offspring. Nowadays every tenth Briton is related to him. Even some of his lords - negro - are descendants.
VLADIMIR LAGOVSKY
