Whether the Mesolithic people who used Gough’s Cave decorated its walls or practiced other forms of art we cannot easily detect is not established.

The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence — the cool, damp cave environment that preserved Cheddar Man’s DNA might also have preserved other organic materials, but the history of excavation at the site does not allow us to be certain about what was and was not present.

The Petrous Bone: The Key To Ancient DNA

The technical key to the Cheddar Man whole-genome analysis was the petrous bone — and the story of how researchers identified this bone as the optimal source of ancient DNA is itself a story of methodological progress.

The petrous bone is part of the temporal bone at the base of the skull.