‘I don’t believe that, sorry’
Miracle cancer cures, benefits scroungers, white supremacism. The Daily Mail reader was hoping for any of the above when he opened today’s copy, only to find the Cheddar Man staring back from page 3.
Cheddar Man is significant because he is Britain’s oldest complete skeleton, living more than 10,000 years ago. Fevered speculation has built up around his origins and appearance because he lived shortly after the first settlers crossed from continental Europe to Britain at the end of the last ice age. People of white British ancestry alive today are descendants of this population.
So imagine the shock, imagine the horror when the Daily Mail reader discovers a new DNA analysis of Cheddar Man suggests he had blue eyes, curly hair and black skin.
The fossil was initially assumed to have pale skin and fair hair, but his DNA paints a different picture. A picture of light skin genes spreading across European populations a lot later than originally believed.
The Daily Mail reader is raging.
