Britain was home to at least two genetically distinct groups of humans at the end of the last ice age, the oldest human DNA from the UK has revealed.
About 19,000 years ago, ice sheets that had covered much of Britain were melting and the landscape once again became habitable to humans. Evidence of their return dates back to about 15,500 years ago. These early groups crossed now submerged land that once connected Britain to mainland Europe.
Human remains from the late ice age have been found at only a handful of sites in Britain, including at Gough’s Cave in Somerset and Kendrick’s Cave in Llandudno, Wales. The former is famous for having been home to “Cheddar Man” – an individual who lived about 10,000 years ago – as well as older remains that showed signs of cannibalism.
Now researchers have extracted and analysed DNA from two individuals found at these sites – the oldest DNA from Britain.
“We can see that there are two different genetic ancestry present in Britain during this late glacial period, which is perhaps not what we expected to find,” said Dr Sophy…
