Posted on 12/30/2005 5:03:20 PM PST by blam
The Japan Times, March 9, 1997
Descendant of Stone Age skeleton found
LONDON (Reuter) British scientists Saturday celebrated their feat of tracing a living descendant of a 9,000-year-old skeleton and establishing the world's oldest known family tree.
In an astonishing piece of detective work, they matched mitochondrial DNA material extracted from the tooth cavity of Britain's oldest complete skeleton with that of a 42-year-old history teacher, Adrian Targett. The genetic material showed without doubt that Targett is a direct descendant through his mother's line of the skeleton known as Cheddar Man, which was found in 1903 in caves in Cheddar Gorge in southwest England.
"It is extraordinary that the DNA survives at all, but we were able to extract it and sequence it," said Bryan Sykes of Oxford University's Institute of Molecular Medicine. "They would have shared a common ancestor about 10,000 years ago, so they are related."
Targett lives about a kilometer from the caves where Cheddar Man was found. Previous tests have shown that Cheddar Man suffered a violent death at the age of about 23 in 7150 B.C.
The Oxford University team spent months analyzing samples from the skeleton before taking DNA swabs from about 20 local people whose families had lived in the Cheddar area for generations.
Targett, who teaches modern history, said he took part only to make up the numbers.
"I was astonished when the scientists said I was the descendant. Appropriately enough, I am a history teacher, but I have to admit I know next to nothing about Cheddar Man. I suppose I really should try to include him in my family tree," he said.
Targett can now boast a lineage millennia older than that of Britain's royal family, which traces its heritage back to A.D. 829.
The oldest previously recorded relative was the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Confucius, who lived in China in the eighth century B.C.
Scientists said the odds of finding a match were not as enormous as might appear, because of the relatively small number of people who lived in Britain during the Stone Age.
Sykes said the discovery strengthened the theory that the ancestors of modern-day Britons were hunter-gatherers rather than farmers.
"There has been an idea that most modern European are descended from farmers that came in from the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, reaching Britain about 6,000 years ago," Sykes told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "This kind of evidence shows that is probably not true, and that modern Britons are in fact descended from the earlier inhabitants like Cheddar Man who existed on hunting and gathering and who were not farmers."
Scientists said they were hoping to use the same technique of sampling mitochondrial DNA to prove whether Neanderthals, who died out about 25,000 years ago, were linked to modern humans or were a completely different species.
Professor Chris Stringer, a researcher at the Natural History Museum, said, "This work may finally let us end a 150-year-old argument which has existed since a Neanderthal man fossil was first found."
Targett, an only child who has no children, was still coming to terms with the idea of having a Stone Age man as a relative.
But his wife, Catherine, said, "Maybe this explains why he likes his steaks rare."
Or maybe not. Note that at least the second article excerpted in post 33 post dates this article. Wonder if the analysis has been redone in the light of the more recent information?
Who knows? A Gouda man is hard to find.
Farming Origins Gain 10,000 Years
"Humans made their first tentative steps towards farming 23,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought. Stone Age people in Israel collected the seeds of wild grasses some 10,000 years earlier than previously recognised, experts say."
How many people do you think are going to get that ancient Pink Floyd reference?
I was betting nobody; guess I was wrong :-)
OK here's another obcure Pink Foyd reference for you.
Cheddar Man died a violent death.
What was his name?
Eugene.
The whole case was just a matter of luck. A Documentary maker was in town making a documentary about Cheddar Man and at someone's suggestion he decided to fund a DNA test of some of the locals. Turns out, Targetts school students volunteered to be tested. I thought there were more than 20 in the test but this article says only 20.
Not exactly. Cheddar Man could be an ancestor of Mr. Targett-- in fact, given the exponential arithmetic of genealogy, Cheddar Man is almost certainly his ancestor by many thousands of lines of descent. However, this particular finding does NOT prove direct descent.
What this proves is that Mr. Targett and Cheddar Man had a relative in their maternal lines in common. Males and females alike receive their mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) from their mothers. Cheddar Man had a sister or female cousin, perhaps a very remote cousin, on his mother's side. She had the same mDNA as he did, since they had a common female ancestor, and passed it down through many generations of daughters to Mr. Targett's mother and thence to him.
If Mr. Targett has issue, the child will get its mDNA from Mr. Targett's wife. The only hope for continuation of Cheddar Man's mDNA is via a female cousin on Mr. Targett's mother's side.
-ccm
Read this article before, shame he is the end of the line. An only child that has no offspring.
Maybe few came forward to be tested.
I don't think it's the end of the line. Wouldn't 50% of Mr Targett's relatives be from the Cheddar Man line?
yep
I tend to doubt this. Hard to make the claim that he is the end of the line if you only sampled 20 people. If he did reproduce there are probably tens of thousands of British who carry his genes.
Re: Descendant Of Stone Age Skeleton Found (Cheddar Man - 9,000 Years Old) From Buffalo Head | 12/30/2005 10:31:28 PM PST read
How do you think that your inane post furthered the purpose of Free Republic? Adolescent attempts at humor belong were adolescents hang out. This forum is for adults and mature children. Please post again after you mature to adult level.
Anyone else hear from such a wondeful freeper?Happy New Year to all
Yep.
Well they say depression is a major problem at this time of year ...but I dont want to poast anything other than an inane comment...
I guess we've been labeled as "Yuk Yuk".
http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/yukyuk.htm
mmmmm..... yuk
Buffalo Head aka Ennui.
http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/ennui.htm
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