The wonders of DNA testing

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tomatoman T
tomatoman Feb 9, 2018 16:12:32
Replying to tjj

It IS wonderful that, after over 100 years let alone the aeons before, such DNA detail can be extracted. Yes, the media are all over it for obvious reasons. BUT.....the skeleton was a lone individual found with traumatic injuries. Someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but there's no evidence that the individual was necessarily a "local resident". If I'm correct in this, until another equivalent example is found, we may have all leapt to an understandable, but unjustified conclusion about the nature of our forbears.

T tjj
tjj Feb 9, 2018 17:47:21
Replying to tomatoman

tomatoman wrote:
It IS wonderful that, after over 100 years let alone the aeons before, such DNA detail can be extracted. Yes, the media are all over it for obvious reasons. BUT.....the skeleton was a lone individual found with traumatic injuries. Someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but there's no evidence that the individual was necessarily a "local resident". If I'm correct in this, until another equivalent example is found, we may have all leapt to an understandable, but unjustified conclusion about the nature of our forbears.
I wouldn't dream of correcting you T, whatever I know has been inspired by reading this forum and its a loss that the knowledgeable people who used to post here don't any more. From what I understand the population - up until the land bridge between ancient Britain and the rest of Europe flooded some 8,000 years ago - was made up of hunter-gatherers ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12244964
"At the time it was home to a fragile and scattered population of about 5,000 hunter-gatherers, descended from the early humans who had followed migrating herds of mammoth and reindeer onto the jagged peninsula".

I imagine they were nomadic and used to travelling great distances on foot.

M moss
moss Feb 10, 2018 09:32:59
Replying to tomatoman

tomatoman wrote:
It IS wonderful that, after over 100 years let alone the aeons before, such DNA detail can be extracted. Yes, the media are all over it for obvious reasons. BUT.....the skeleton was a lone individual found with traumatic injuries. Someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but there's no evidence that the individual was necessarily a "local resident". If I'm correct in this, until another equivalent example is found, we may have all leapt to an understandable, but unjustified conclusion about the nature of our forbears.
Perhaps there is too much news, in the end whenever I put anything up, a need to qualify with words such as 'speculation', 'hype' or even 'fake' just because someone wants to gather an audience.
Blick Mead is everywhere in news, used to stop the Stonehenge tunnel, but 'auroch footsteps' mmmm. As for Cheddar man my scepticism is still out at the moment.