DNA Analysis of “Cheddar Man” Reveals Early Britons Had Dark Skin

Lia Grainger
Feb 08, 2018

The DNA analysis of a 10,000-year-old British skeleton known as Cheddar Man has revealed a range of fascinating facts about ancient human life in Britain, chief among them that early inhabitants of the island nation looked a little different than you might expect.

According to the analysis, which used a small amount of bone powder extracted from the skeleton’s dense inner ear bone, Cheddar Man’s skin pigmentation was very dark.

“He is just one person, but also indicative of the population of Europe at the time,” said Tom Booth, a postdoctoral researcher who worked with Britain’s Natural History Museum on the project. “They had dark skin and most of them had pale colored eyes, either blue or green, and dark brown hair.”

As part of the project, researchers constructed a bust of what Cheddar Man might have looked like. The statue has blue eyes, dark brown hair, and dark brown skin.

“Cheddar Man subverts people’s expectations of what kinds of genetic traits go together,” said Booth.

Until recently, scientists assumed humans evolved to have light-colored skin fairly quickly after arriving in Europe about 45,000 years ago. Pale skin is better at absorbing UV light and vitamin D and the change would make sense in European climates with less sunlight.

But the DNA of Cheddar Man and other recent genetic studies indicate that humans in Europe evolved to have pale eyes long before pale skin or lighter-colored hair.

Cheddar Man’s remains were first discovered in 1903 inGough’s Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, and at first, scientists thought he may have lived up to 80,000 years ago. The cold temperatures in the cave and layers of mineral deposits in which he was found meant that Cheddar Man was unusually well-preserved. After extracting genetic material from his skull, scientists got to work sequencing his DNA, and then compared what they found to the modern human genome.

According to the Museum, modern British people share about 10 percent of their DNA with the population to which Cheddar Man belonged, which means that, if you’re British, you can proudly say, “We are all Cheddar Man.” And you definitely should.

(Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images)

Um, ‘Bridgerton’ Star Phoebe Dynevor Almost Got Arrested Filming Her New Movie

Ever since Daphne Bridgerton became Duchess of Hastings (and actress Phoebe Dynevor exited the show after season 2), fans have been taking every opportunity they can to see her onscreen. And in addition to a new thriller with Zac Efron and a shark movie that sounds downright terrifying, Phoebe stars in Inheritance — a new January movie that was entirely shot on an iPhone...and that Phoebe committed a real crime for.

Here's everything you need to know about Phoebe Dynevor's new movie Inheritance.

What is the Inheritance film about?

Inheritance follows Maya, whose world gets turned upside down when she learns her dad is actually an ex-spy. But things get even crazier when she gets sucked into the middle of an international conspiracy herself. Armed with tons of questions (and a killer pair of sunglasses) Maya has to stay alive long enough to find answers.

The movie filmed all over the world, which director Neil Burger calls a "true adventure."

"Shooting around the world and taking risks to achieve the ‘you are there’ feel," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Phoebe delivers a phenomenal performance in the movie, and I’m looking forward to audiences seeing her as they’ve never seen her before.”

Now, those aforementioned sunglasses (which Maya steals in the movie) might only be the focus for a moment, but they were a pretty big deal IRL because Phoebe Dynevor actually stole them. “I remember feeling really nervous and afraid that they would think I was actually stealing, but at the time, we wanted real reactions from the staff. It was very scary,” she says in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Director Neil Burger explains the team's "contingency plans, excuses, and explanations" in case Phoebe got caught (including buying the same pair of sunglasses so they'd have a receipt). And after Phoebe knocked it out of the park, the glasses were returned, of course!

“There was a safety net that came with the camera being there because it felt like this isn’t real. We’re shooting something,” she continues. “We only had one take to get it right. I’d have to be very cognizant of whether the camera was getting it. You don’t want to have to do that twice.”

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And not only did Phoebe Dynevor nab an accessory, but she also almost got arrested for a totally different reason after she played drunk in the middle of New York City. "It was an experience I’ve never had before, and this mother pulled them away understandably," she says. “It was just very, very strange knowing that it wasn’t real, but our director wanted it to feel as real as possible, so sometimes we would keep going and see what we could get out of the exchange with people on the street.

But when the police showed up, and she was worried she'd actually get arrested, she tells EW she immediately switched into her English accent: “I would then come out of [Maya’s] accent and turn on my poshest British actor and be like, ‘I’m an actor.’”

When is Inheritance coming out?

You can see Inheritance in theaters starting January 24, 2025.

Who's in the cast?

The Inheritance cast includes Phoebe Dynevor, Rhys Ifans, Ciara Baxendale, and Majd Eid.

A movie set wouldn't be complete without a crew. And Inheritance's crew was only made up of 10 people!

Stay tuned for the latest news on Inheritance and read up on The 12 Most-Anticipated January TV Shows Coming In 2025.

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OMG, You Can Read Part Of The New 'Hunger Games' Prequel Right Now

We're headed back into the world of Panem with Suzanne Collins' fifth Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping. The new 2025 novel comes out March 18 (along with a new movie that's already scheduled for November 2026!) and it follows the one Hunger Games everyone's been dying to hear about since Catching Fire was published: the 50th Games, AKA the games Haymitch won.

We already know that the novel takes place 24 years before Katniss' first games and that as a Quarter Quell, there's a twist: Haymitch is up against twice as many tributes as normal. People was given an exclusive excerpt from the new book, and it makes me even more excited than I already was.

Here's what happens in the first excerpt from Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.

'Hunger Games' fans will love the first 'Sunrise on the Reaping' excerpt from chapter 1.

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The Sunrise on the Reaping excerpt opens the morning of reaping day — which is also Haymitch's 16th birthday. (Which could explain his behavior during the day Prim's reaped and Katniss volunteers. What a horrible birthday!). Haymitch hopes to spend the free parts of his day lounging around with his girlfriend Lenore Dove, if his mother and the Gamemakers don't get in his way.

The excerpt continues with a really beautiful depiction of District 12's Seam, which is modern day Appalachia. It's a tight-knit (albeit struggling) community covered in a "protective" mist as the sun rises. Haymitch knows that this reaping will take twice as many children and fights to stay calm.

"No way to control the outcome of the reaping or what follows it," he thinks. "So don’t feed the nightmares. Don’t let yourself panic. Don’t give the Capitol that. They’ve taken enough already."

And 'Sunrise on the Reaping' proves Haymitch and Katniss' similarities.

We also learn more about Haymitch's family. All we know from the original trilogy is that President Snow killed them after he won, but this prequel actually introduces us to them. Haymitch's mother was widowed after a coal mine killed his father. He also has a 10-year-old brother named Sid who I can already tell is very energetic and very loud.

This really proves that Haymitch and Katniss are two sides of the same coin, and that they're able to understand each other more than any of the other characters. Not only are they both from the Seam, but they also lost their fathers by the age of 16.

And the most important detail to me is the fact they both have younger siblings they'd do anything for — they were simply destined to be a father-daughter duo. Sacrificial love is the beating heart of the Hunger Games series, and I can't wait to see all the complexity and nuance Sunrise on the Reaping brings to the franchise.

Stay tuned for more Sunrise on the Reaping news, and check out the 10 Most-Anticipated Book-To-Film Adaptations We Can't Wait To See In 2025 for more movie updates.

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Every Character Returning For '1923' Season 2

After a two-year wait, 1923 season 2 is finally just over a month away from being on our screens. While we have a lot of questions about what will happen to the Duttons, Teonna, and the Yellowstone ranch, there's one thing we know for certain: this show wouldn't be the same without its cast.

Here's the full list of 1923 season 2 characters, from Harrison Ford's Jacob Dutton to Brandon Sklenar's Spencer Dutton.

1. Harrison Ford As Jacob Dutton

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Icon Harrison Ford plays patriarch Jacob Dutton, brother to 1883's James Dutton (meaning he's Spencer's uncle) and Cara's husband.

2. Helen Mirren as Cara Dutton

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Helen Mirren stars as Jacob's wife Cara Dutton, who's totally capable of holding down the fort at the Yellowstone ranch — and writes to tell Spencer at the end of season 1 they need him to come home.

3. Brandon Sklenar as Spencer Dutton

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It Ends With Us' Brandon Sklenar returns in 1923 season 2 as Spencer Dutton, the younger brother of Elsa and John from 1883. He's a soldier-turned-hunter in Africa who meets Alexandra on a job before learning the ranch is in jeopardy.

4. Julia Schlaepfer as Alex Dutton

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Julia Schlaepfer's Alex Dutton quickly falls for Spencer after their first meeting (ditching her fiancé Arthur in the process), and joins him on his adventure. After they're called back to Montana, Alex and Spencer get separated when they cross paths with Arthur, and a duel with Spencer leads to Arthur's death.

5. Darren Mann as Jack Dutton

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Darren Man plays Jack Dutton, Jacob's great-nephew (and Spencer's nephew) who lives on the ranch with Jacob, Cara, and his new wife Elizabeth.

6. Michelle Randolph as Elizabeth Dutton

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Elizabeth Dutton is Jack's wife and is played by Michelle Randolph (who you'll recognize from Landman!). They're madly in love and conceive their first child during the first season, but Elizabeth miscarries in the season finale.

7. Aminah Nieves as Teonna Rainwater

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Aminah Nieves returns in 1923 season 2 as Teonna Rainwater, who's just escaped the abusive Catholic boarding school that took her from her family. Finally reunited with her father and her friend Pete, it looks like Teonna is finally safe.

8. ​Brian Geraghty as Zane Davis

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1923 season 2 also includes Brian Geraghty as Zane Davis, foreman for the Yellowstone ranch who gets jumped by the police at the end of season 1 after Whitfield and Banner go after the Duttons.

9. Jerome Flynn as Banner Creighton

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Jerome Flynn's Banner Creighton is set on bringing the Duttons down, and now that he's out of prison, he's ready for round 2.

10. Sebastian Roché as Father Renaud

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1923 season 2 (unfortunately) stars Sebastian Roché as Father Renaud (I'm sure Sebastian is great, but I literally hate this character), who's hunting Teonna.

11. Isabel May as Elsa Dutton

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1883's Elsa Dutton (played by Isabel May) returns for 1923 season 2 as the narrator looking over the story — and her family.

12. Andy Dispensa as Luca

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Our new 1923 season 2 character is Luca (played by The Chosen's Andy Dispensa), who's “a young man working in the engine room of a merchant ship," so he's sure to cross paths with Spencer.

Which 1923 season 2 characters are you most excited to see again? Read up on the The 1923 Season 1 Ending, Deaths, & Betrayals before the new episodes drop. And don't forget to check out 14 New TV Shows To Watch In February.

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