But the WHG population itself was not homogeneous — there was individual variation within the population, just as there is in any population.

Cheddar Man’s specific characteristics are the most probable characteristics for a WHG individual, but they are not the only possible characteristics.

The claim that “ten percent of British ancestry” derives from the WHG population means something specific and something more limited than it might first appear — it does not mean that ten percent of British people are “related” to Cheddar Man in a colloquial sense, but that approximately ten percent of the alleles in modern British genomes trace to the WHG population.

These nuances are important because science communication too often simplifies to the point of inaccuracy.