The Mesolithic leaves a lighter footprint than almost any other period of human prehistory precisely because the people of the Mesolithic were not building the permanent structures or mass-producing the durable goods that leave obvious archaeological traces.

The Facial Reconstruction

Alongside the genetic analysis, the 2018 Cheddar Man project included the production of a facial reconstruction — a physical model of what the man might have looked like in life.

This reconstruction was created by Dutch paleo-artists Adrie and Alfons Kennis, who are specialists in the production of scientifically informed representations of ancient humans.

The brothers have produced reconstructions of numerous ancient and prehistoric individuals, and their work is known for its combination of scientific rigor and artistic skill.

The reconstruction process began with a high-resolution three-dimensional scan of the skull.