I didn't see the Breakfast programme, but I would have thought that the presenter's surprise at people living in the locality today having the same DNA as Cheddar Man would arise from amazement that there would be genetic continuity in one place over so many centuries, rather than surprise that we are all descended from ancient folk. After all, if Cheddar Man's DNA points to a Middle Eastern origin, which suggests considerable movement over time, why would one expect to find his direct descendants still living there today? I don't even live where my parents lived, nor where my grandparents lived, or my great grandparents, or great great grandparents, let alone anyone from thousands of years ago.To me it's mind-boggling that descendants of Cheddar Man are still to be found there. He must have been a helluva Big Cheese! Giles Oakley ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Ritchings" <johnr@stnectan.demon.co.uk> To: <bristol_and_somerset@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 10:13 AM Subject: [B&S] Cheddar Man > Greetings > > On the same Breakfast programme one of the presenters expressed great > surprise that people living in the locality of where Cheddar man was found > had the same mtDNA as he did. Why is this so surprising? Everyone of us > alive today had an ancestor living at the time of Cheddar man. If that > were not the case, we would not be here! Tests had shown that he was > haplogroup U which appears to have been of Middle Eastern origin. > >>From where does the BBC believe that our DNA arises if not from our >>ancestors? It is this very fact that allows genetic genealogy to trace >>our deep ancestry. The same surprise has previously been registered by >>the BBC for other similar examples. > > Regrettably I cannot claim any relationship to Cheddar man as I am mtDNA > haplogroup H. > > Regards > > > > John > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:48:14 -0000 > From: "Josephine Jeremiah" <jojeremiah@dsl.pipex.com> > Subject: [B&S] Sculls in Gough's Cave, Cheddar, Somerset -- BBC news > article > To: bristol_and_somerset@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <op.vq1heo0x42w82j@glasydorlan> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15; format=flowed; > delsp=yes > > This morning, on the BBC News, I caught the tail end of a feature on > Cheddar Caves. > > Afterwards, I found a BBC news article on sculls, in Gough's Cave, > Cheddar, which could once have been used as drinking cups. > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12478115 > > At the end of the television feature Cheddar Man was mentioned. > > I see that there is a BBC article on Cheddar Man here: > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9392000/9392086.stm > > -- > Josephine Jeremiah > www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BRISTOL_AND_SOMERSET-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >