Genetics, Genomics & The Gentry

Those, who believe the British people were all white, can change their thought now as scientists have revealed that the man - who lived in Britain 9,000 years ago - had dark skin, blue eyes and dark curly hair.

The skeleton of the first 'Briton' was discovered in Gough's Cave in Somerset in 1903. Initially, scientists thought that the "Cheddar Man" had pale skin and fair hair. However, the genome of Cheddar Man suggests he had dark skin. According to the London-based Natural History Museum, the Cheddar Man's DNA analysis revealed that he was the ancestor of modern day Britons.

Researchers claimed that the Europeans had pigmentation on their skin 7,000 years ago. The skin colour of Cheddar Man's descendants, who used to live in low sunlight areas, started to become brown gradually. After recreating the Cheddar Man's face with the help of 3-D printing technology,...