Unearthing Cheddar Man: Britain’s Ancient Mystery and Modern Connections

In this captivating episode of Wildly Curious, hosts Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole delve into the ancient history of Cheddar Man, a 9,000-year-old skeleton discovered in the Cheddar Gorge caves of England. Known for his unexpectedly dark skin, blue eyes, and curly hair, Cheddar Man has puzzled scientists and enthusiasts alike. Uncover the story of his discovery, what his remains reveal about Mesolithic life, and the astonishing connection to a modern-day descendant still living in Somerset. Join Katy and Laura as they explore the fascinating world of ancient Britain and the surprising clues that human remains can hold about our past.

Perfect for fans of archaeology, British history, and mysteries that bridge the ancient and modern worlds!

Transcript

Katy: [00:00:00] and we're talking caves one last time so we had methane hell cave we had unicorns then we had uh, non unfound treasure Then we had 20 000 people. How the heck did they live there? And then we had giant crystals and today we're talking about cheddar, but not the cheese so You know what, for how horrible my memory is, I am very proud of myself.

Yeah.

Laura: And a partridge in a pear tree.

Katy: Right? That's what it feels like. That's what it feels like. All right, so I'm going to go, I guess the, again, the whole thing, the whole cave chronicle has just been things, things that people have found, found in caves. And so this one, um, is of a human, um, that was found in a cave. So deep within the Cheddar

Laura: Cheddar.

Katy: No, he's not. No, that would be amazing.

Laura: The Earl [00:01:00] of Cheddar.

Katy: All right deep within the cheddar gorge in england a discovery was made that again Again people that just stumble upon these things like how how

Laura: have all the luck. That's what it is. It's all the luck. I have like the worst luck. I want, I'm ready for like some cool luck.

Katy: right. Yeah. Um, so anyway, so in 1903 workers stumbled upon a cave that housed the remains of a man who lived over, well over 9, 000 years ago, and again, we're in England. Okay, and so this definitely, again, whenever people were in England, they're like, God, white, like, typical, you know, white people. And so this definitely, Right.

Raised a lot of questions about where, like, where did this person come from kind of thing. Um, so he lived over 9, 000 years ago, known as cheddar man, this discovery

Laura: man.

Katy: cheddar man, this [00:02:00] discovery provided unprecedented insights into the life and appearance of early. Mesolithic humans in Britain. So the Cheddar Gorge, located in Somerset, is a limestone gorge known for its impressive cliffs and cave systems.

While excavating in one of these caves, workers uncovered a nearly complete skeleton. This skeleton, later named Cheddar Man, belonged to an individual

Laura: them for doing that to this person. Cheddar man. That's the best

Katy: Cheddar Man.

Laura: up with.

Katy: I mean, to be fair, it's in the Cheddar Gorge, but still. Still.

Laura: it just reminds me of that one of my brother's favorite stories when we were little is the stinky cheese man. Did you

Katy: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, let's see here. So, yeah. So, it was around 9, 000 ish years ago. Initial analysis revealed that the Cheddar Man was about 5 feet 5 inches tall and likely died in his 20s. So, just a tiny, young guy. Yeah.

Laura: That's how tall my dad is.

Katy: Aw, your dad. [00:03:00] I mean, I'm 5'1 everyone's taller than me. Um, the discovery definitely was remarkable.

Not only for its age, like for how old the skeleton was, it was pretty much fully intact, but also for the level of preservation of the remains. Treader Man's skeleton provided a wealth of information

Laura: I can't even hear it without laughing. Cheddar man.

Katy: About the health, diet, and lifestyle of early Britain. Isotopic analysis of his bones suggested a diet rich in meat and fish, Reflecting the hunter gathering style of the Mesolithic people, which would make sense.

Um, the condition of his teeth and bones Also offered clues about his general health and any physical stressors that he endured during his life. What makes the discovery of the Cheddar Man even more fascinating is the genetic analysis conducted in recent years. In 2018, so not all that long ago.

Scientists extracted DNA from one of Cheddar Man's teeth and sequenced his geome. Yep, the [00:04:00] results definitely weren't what, like I was saying earlier, definitely not what people were expecting. Despite popular depictions of early Britons, Cheddar Man had dark skin, blue eyes, and curly

Laura: Whoa, that's cool.

Katy: Yeah, so definitely like a curveball between, I mean it's like how they depicted a white Jesus, you know what I mean?

It's just like the reality, You know what I mean? Like, in Anglicode Jesus,

Laura: would they know? Blue eyes? They can tell that from your genome?

Katy: Yeah, dark skin, blue eyes, and curly hair.

Laura: how curly?

Katy: I don't

Laura: have a picture of him? I'm just curious. Like, are we talking like, like you're curly?

Katy: Yeah, because I definitely had a fro. I don't know. I don't know. I didn't find one.

Laura: I'm just curious. Chet a

Katy: No, it's more like, uh,

Laura: Like, close? Like,

Katy: no, no, not even close. Like, because again, you figure most people, I don't know, almost like a mullet. You know, like a mullet, whenever men start to get a mullet going, and it's like curly in the back.

Laura: Oh, okay, okay, okay.

Katy: It's [00:05:00] almost like that.

So it's not like curls, curls. It's more like wavy.

Laura: Oh, I see. Oh,

Katy: But it's like dark like but he's like like the like the richer dark skin, but he's not it's not African, you know what I mean? Like

Laura: Well, yeah, yeah. It's definitely

Katy: but like it like his facial features and stuff are just in

Laura: definitely, well, it's, it's very much like, um, like any kind of the northern ethnic tribes.

Katy: Yes. Yes.

Laura: Like, indigenous.

Katy: Yes Let's see here So because, like what Laura was just saying, the Cheddar Man, it is, it offered some, and highlighted the complexity and diversity of early human populations in Europe, showing that traits such as skin pigmentation were far more varied than previously thought. Again, people were like, Britons looked around at each other when a lot of this stuff was being discovered.

It was like, we're all white. Everybody else probably here forever has been white too, and that's not, not the case. The genetic analysis also revealed that Cheddar [00:06:00] Man's ancestors likely migrated to Europe. Uh, to Britain from the Middle East after the last ice age, contributing to 1, our understanding of kind of like where the human migration pattern went,

Laura: So wait, where do they think that they came from?

Katy: the Middle East after the last ice age

Laura: Okay, okay, okay. Okay.

Katy: ish, ish, they, they, they think, but again, it's just like, you take 1 of those 23 and me, you, we know, whatever

Laura: trying to find the dots like they're trying to find the DNA similarities as you

Katy: Yes, yep, but that wasn't they didn't just find cheddar man like just his skeleton there They also found around him tools and artifacts around the burial site suggesting that the cave was used as a shelter and possibly a burial ground They're not quite sure but they like it was like an interesting It wasn't it was an interesting thing.

So it's not like he was put in there and it was like it was like a You know, like a mummies, how they put stuff in there and it is like a burial site. It wasn't like that, [00:07:00] but at the same time it, what?

Laura: It was just his house, maybe.

Katy: I, yeah. So they're not quite sure. Cause it had like stuff there, but yeah, I mean, maybe he was just living there.

Um, so anyway, so yeah, so they've continued to explore all those caves and stuff, but the remains of Cheddar Man was definitely like the most interesting thing that came out of those caves. Um, from those workers that just happened to, to. Stumble upon it and now his remains are displayed at the Natural History Museum in London where visitors can learn all about like the history and stuff.

And I think, hold on, let me think here, um, I, I started reading a story, I didn't write about this cause I found it later. So they found a guy though that is. In Somerset,

Laura: right? That's supposed to be his ancestor or

Katy: Yes. That they believe that like through the all this DNA testing that folks do nowadays. Um, they found somebody because of how pristine and how good that [00:08:00] DNA was in the teeth that they were able to sequence it.

They found somebody today that they believe he was a retired history teacher from Somerset. Um, And,

Laura: His family must have lived there, what they're saying, for the last 9, 000

Katy: in years, yes, um,

Laura: gosh. Talk about people who never went anywhere.

Katy: right, yeah,

Laura: I'm just kidding. And there's probably a lovely

Katy: yeah, yeah, so anyway, so that is, uh, Cheddar Man, the Cheddar Man,

Laura: chat, chat a man.

Katy: Cheddar

Laura: That's so cool. I, uh, that stuff's fascinating.

Katy: yeah, and again, all these cave things,

Laura: makes me want to time travel

Katy: If all these, all these things that we talked about, all the caves, I mean, there's so much more that, because we just, we just scratched the surface.

Laura: people go, go find something or just go look around. Cause it's cool.

Katy: because it is really mammoth caves. I mean, that's a national park. It's awesome. Um.

Laura: [00:09:00] And plus, I mean, there's caves all over the world as we were just

Katy: Oh, yeah,

Laura: go find a cave.

Katy: yeah, and take tours and that's the biggest thing too is take tours. All right, because people hate that But it's like that's where you learn the cool things because if you just walk through them or you do like the self guided

Laura: You're not getting the background. You're not a geologist. I mean, some of you out there might be, but like, you're not getting your, or if you're a geologist, then you don't know the culture or the history. Unless you talk to the tour guides. Yeah.

Katy: Yeah. So talk to the tour guides because trust me they want to talk to you That's what they're there for

Laura: That's what we're there for.

Katy: Yeah So anyway, so this is the last cave chronicle. Um, I think how we have it set up. I think we have one more After this,

Laura: I, surely. We

Katy: we have one more episode after this and then it's a season break.

Yep So yeah, so check us out on patreon support us there if you can Um, because it drastically helps us because this stuff gets expensive to just do this So [00:10:00] and help laura and I keep reaching Thousands and thousands of other weird people around the world that just happen to listen to us

Laura: Nature

Katy: Shocks me every time.

Yeah shocks me every time. So already guys, uh, we will talk to you next week then

Laura: Bye everybody.