It was 1903 when the remains of a number of ancient people were found. Amongst them were the almost intact skeletal remains of a man who was to become known as the 'CHEDDAR MAN'. What has this to do with the Somerton Man mystery? The above is actually an image of the well-preserved remains, amazing how the bone structure has lasted so well, you can even see the skull, jaw bone, and teeth. It is good that according to top Detective Superintendent Bray the Somerton Man's remains were in good condition, we can surely expect that the jaw bone and teeth will be readily available for DNA analysis, especially the teeth.
As Dr Selina Brace states in the linked article, they were able to use DNA samples from these ancient remains and find a modern-day relative some 9000 years after the Cheddar Man left his mortal coil. What's more, he didn't live that far away from the discovery site.
There is another link that gives us a more up-to-date story, from last week in fact. Odd that the 'Identifying the Somerton Man' FB page didn't pick up on that. I wonder why, perhaps the answer is to be found in the linked articles. Something about the way that DNA decays and not necessarily over lengthy periods of time perhaps? Here is the more recent information from the Smithsonian.
There is another link that gives us a more up-to-date story, from last week in fact. Odd that the 'Identifying the Somerton Man' FB page didn't pick up on that. I wonder why, perhaps the answer is to be found in the linked articles. Something about the way that DNA decays and not necessarily over lengthy periods of time perhaps? Here is the more recent information from the Smithsonian.
Tags
ancient DNA
CHEDDAR MAN
Detective Superintendent Bray
Identifying The Somerton Man FB page
modern day relative
Somerton Man Mystery
Sounds a bit cheesy to me GC...
ReplyDeleteCheesy? Yes, but of the mature variety :)
ReplyDelete