The discovery of Cheddar Man: A proof that the first Britons were black

A DNA analysis done on Britain's oldest complete skeleton shocked the world when it was later confirmed that Cheddar Man had dark skin, blue eyes and curly hair.

The groundbreaking revelation was done by researchers from London's Natural History Museum and a University College London (UCL) team. It was done on a fossil that is believed to have lived close to 10,000 years ago.

3D illustration of Cheddar Man supported by researchers.

The fossil was named Cheddar Man after its discovery in 1903 at Gough's Cave in Cheddar, Somerset, England. Cheddar Man was at first believed to be white-skinned and of fair hair but further studies have revealed that the characteristics of modern Europeans are a recent phenomenon. 

The skin tone of the Chedder Man also disputes the modern classification of people according to skin colour. Racial classification of the world is a recent scholarship that most black scholars condemn for motivating inequalities in the world.

Archaeologists, on the other hand, commonly agree that Africa was the cradle of mankind. It was through Africa that the world was populated. 

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop while interviewed on an American educational channel, For The People, confirmed that the white man evolved from a black man who travelled to Europe during the glaciation period. The Blackman experienced physical changes like a narrow nose and pale skin in order to adapt to the colder and less sunny climate.

According to The Washington Post, it is believed that Cheddar Man's ancestors arrived in Europe through the Middle East after leaving Africa. Those days the Suez Canal connected Africa to Asia.  

Cheddar Man is special because he represents the population occupying Europe at the time… They had dark skin, and most of them had pigmented eyes, either blue or green. 

Tom Booth, a bio-archaeologist at London's Natural History Museum.

It is further believed that Cheddar Man died in his 20s. Earlier studies on his skeleton had suggested that he died a violent death but Tom Booth disputed the claims revealing that the damage had occurred from the unearthing process.

The researchers further revealed that Cheddar Man was 166cm tall. According to BBC, the graveyard of this mysterious man seemed like he was buried by people of his tribe. Scientific DNA carried out on modern Britons suggests that 1 in 10 people are related to Cheddar Man. 

I've been studying the skeleton of Cheddar Man for about 40 years. So to come face-to-face with what this guy could have looked like - and that striking combination of the hair, the face, the eye colour and that dark skin: something a few years ago we couldn't have imagined and yet that's what the scientific data show.

Prof Chris Stringer, the museum's lead researcher reported by BBC.

(BBC). A replica of Cheddar Man now present at Gough's cave.

Cheddar Man is said to have come from the stone age. His ancestors were Mesolithic hunters and gatherers. They spent most of their time carving tools, hunting, and fishing. The tribe has widely been associated with the regions of Luxembourg, Hungary and Spain.

Credits to Dutch artists Alfons and Adrie Kennis, specialists in palaeontological model-making, who connected the scientific findings to come up with what we know today as the face of Cheddar Man. A wonderful throwback in time.

With previous attempts to uncover Cheddar man, Tom Booth's team was the most outstanding. However, it was faced with mixed emotions from netizens, some supporting the discovery while others disputing it. The researchers were so sure of their findings as Tom Booth promised future revelations into the life of the man.

The discovery is another opportunity to tell the world that African connection with the other continents was not through slavery. In fact, research by a Europe organization has revealed that blacks had travelled to Europe later than 1,800 years ago.

Further, an academic geneticist, Professor Steve Jones of University College London confirms that about 1 in 5 White British people have direct black ancestors. He says that blacks have been living in Europe for so long that they are now part of the country's gene pool.

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