A Mesolithic hunter and the owner of the oldest complete skeleton to be found in the British Isles (around 10,000 years old). Scientists at the Natural History Museum have reconstructed his DNA profile and concluded that he was dark skinned with green or blue eyes. This is consistent with the evidence for contemporaneous skeletons elsewhere in western Europe. So superficially like an inhabitant of sub-Saharan Africa, but at the same time completely different. Confounding modern notions of continuous and unchanging "racial identities".
This was recently explained to us by our next door neighbour, who is an archaeology lecturer. My (adopted) daughter, whose genetic fingerprint is similarly difficult to describe, was quite taken by the idea that the oldest known inhabitant of Britain looked rather more like her than any of us 😊 🌈
@SunshineGirl speaking of cheese... I'm a bit confused by the European place of origin and naming rights issue.... Recently bought some jarslberg cheese.... Which I love....reading the packet, which one is want to do I find that its made in Ireland and packed in Germany... Never even been near the crinkly bits around Norway!
@Convivial Confusing, isn't it? European countries can apply to protect places of origin, but they have to demonstrate a unique product and cultural history. And by the time those laws were formulated, many European cheeses were already produced all over the world and it was impossible to enforce any meaningful protection.
Last week I visited a dairy in south-west England which is expanding to become the "mozzarella hub" of Arla, a Danish conglomerate 🏴 🇮🇹 🇩🇰
Cheddar is still made in Cheddar though. The same caves that sheltered Mesolithic man are also good for maturing cheese!
I remember seeing a documentary on this a while back. Super interesting how lighter skin tones actually came about within the neolithic period, once farming populations from Europe and the Middle East started settling. The only difference is their diet lacked natural vitamin D compared to the hunter-gatherers that came before, hence the evolution to lighter skin tones.
@HijabaDabbaDoo It's really mind-opening. Along with the land bridge in the English Channel that convinced the Stone Age dwellers of what is now Portugal that it would be a good idea to spend the summer season hunting in Britain 🦣
