But part of the response was more politically charged: the finding had implications for narratives about race and identity in Britain that some people found uncomfortable and others found illuminating.

The Political Context And Its Complexity

The announcement of Cheddar Man’s genetic characteristics arrived in February 2018 at a particular moment in British political culture.

Brexit had been voted for in 2016.

Immigration was a contentious political issue.

Questions about British identity, what it meant to be British, and the historical depth of different communities’ connections to British soil were live in public discourse in a way they had not been for decades.

Into this environment, the finding that the oldest near-complete skeleton in England had dark skin entered like a stone into a pool.