The postglacial environment was actually extraordinarily productive — a world of dense forests, rich river systems, productive coastlines, and abundant game.

For hunter-gatherers with the knowledge to exploit these resources, caloric sufficiency was generally achievable, as evidenced by Cheddar Man’s healthy teeth and well-nourished skeleton.

What Mesolithic hunter-gatherers lacked was the ability to produce food — to grow crops, to raise livestock, to store grain through the winter.

Their survival depended on their knowledge of where food could be found at each season, their skill at hunting and fishing, and the accumulated ecological knowledge that allowed them to move efficiently through the landscape and exploit its resources.

Cheddar Man would have been part of a community with this knowledge — a community that knew the Mendip Hills and the surrounding landscape intimately, that had learned through generations of experience where the red deer moved in autumn, where the fish ran in spring, where the best nuts could be gathered in summer.