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Britain's 'Cheddar Man' Had Dark Skin, Blue Eyes- Scientists Find

A likeness of “Cheddar Man,” Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, at the Natural History Museum. Genetic evidence showed that he was dark-skinned and blue eyed, scientists said. Credit London Natural History Museum
A likeness of “Cheddar Man,” Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, at the Natural History Museum. Genetic evidence showed that he was dark-skinned and blue eyed, scientists said. Credit London Natural History Museum
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Britain's 'Cheddar Man' Had Dark Skin, Blue Eyes- Scientists Find

A likeness of “Cheddar Man,” Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, at the Natural History Museum. Genetic evidence showed that he was dark-skinned and blue eyed, scientists said. Credit London Natural History Museum
A likeness of “Cheddar Man,” Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, at the Natural History Museum. Genetic evidence showed that he was dark-skinned and blue eyed, scientists said. Credit London Natural History Museum

“Cheddar Man”, Britain’s oldest, nearly complete human skeleton, had dark skin, blue eyes and dark curly hair when he lived in what is now southwest England 10,000 years ago, scientists who read his DNA have discovered.

The finding suggests that the lighter skin pigmentation now seen as typical of northern Europeans is far more recent than previously thought, according to researchers from University College London (UCL) who took part in the project.

Cheddar Man’s skin color was described as “dark to black” by the scientific team which also included researchers from London’s Natural History Museum, where the skeleton is on display in the Human Evolution gallery.

“To go beyond what the bones tell us and get a scientifically based picture of what he actually looked like is a remarkable, and from the results quite surprising achievement,” said Chris Stringer, the museum’s research leader in Human Origins.

Unearthed in 1903 in a cave at Cheddar Gorge, in the county of Somerset, the Mesolithic-era man was a hunter-gatherer whose ancestors migrated into Europe at the end of the last Ice Age.

Three hundred generations later, around 10 percent of indigenous British ancestry can be linked to Cheddar Man’s people, scientists say.

As part of a project commissioned by Britain’s Channel 4 television station for a documentary, experts from the Natural History Museum’s ancient DNA lab drilled a tiny hole into the skull in order to extract genetic information.

The DNA was unusually well-preserved, enabling the scientists to sequence Cheddar Man’s genome for the first time and to analyze it to establish aspects of his appearance.

Then, a pair of Dutch artists who are experts in paleontology model making, Alfons and Adrie Kennis, used a high-tech scanner to make a three-dimensional model of Cheddar Man’s head.

The model, which UCL and the Natural History Museum said rendered Cheddar Man’s face with unprecedented accuracy, shows a man with dark skin, high cheekbones, blue eyes and coarse black hair.

The model will be shown on the Channel 4 documentary, which is scheduled to be aired on Feb. 18.

Selina Brace, one of the Natural History Museum’s ancient DNA experts who took part in sequencing Cheddar Man’s genome, was quoted as saying the model was “really, really cool”.

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Cuddly Olympics Mascot Facing Life or Death Struggle in the Wild

The ermine and stoat mascots of the 2026 Olympic Games are everywhere, but their real-life counterparts risk dwindling in the wild. Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP
The ermine and stoat mascots of the 2026 Olympic Games are everywhere, but their real-life counterparts risk dwindling in the wild. Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP
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Cuddly Olympics Mascot Facing Life or Death Struggle in the Wild

The ermine and stoat mascots of the 2026 Olympic Games are everywhere, but their real-life counterparts risk dwindling in the wild. Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP
The ermine and stoat mascots of the 2026 Olympic Games are everywhere, but their real-life counterparts risk dwindling in the wild. Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

Tina and Milo, the ermine and stoat mascots of the upcoming 2026 Olympic Games in Italy, are already everywhere -– smiling on stuffed animals, posters, mugs and T-shirts.

But it's another story for their real-life counterparts –- living out of sight and under pressure in the Alps as their snow cover slowly melts away due to climate change.

Ermines and stoats are the same animal -- mustela erminea -- but with the ermine sporting its white winter coat and the stoat its brown one for summer. And while they might be the face of the Olympics, they're disappearing in Italy's Alps, according to the country's only dedicated ermine researcher.

Since 2022, University of Turin doctoral student Marco Granata has been single-handedly monitoring the sinewy, hard-to-spot mammals who inhabit the same mountain peaks where the games will take place, high in the snowy Italian Alps where their winter coats camouflage them from predators.

"The ermine is like a wild ghost. It's a small, elusive animal," Granata told AFP.

"What makes it so interesting to me is the fact that it risks disappearing from entire mountains."

Easy targets

The small mammal's ability to molt -- its brown coat turning to white in November -- is what Granata calls a "super power" that's allowed it to survive for thousands of years.

But now it's a liability.

"The ermine faces a mismatch when it finds itself completely white in a world that should be white but is no longer so," Granata said.

Snow cover in the Italian Alps has decreased by half in the last 100 years, according to a study published in December 2024 in the International Journal of Climatology.

With their snow camouflage gone, the white ermines now stand out starkly against their mountain backdrop, becoming easy targets for predators such as hawks, owls or foxes.

Another problem awaits when the energetic carnivores climb to higher altitudes in search of snow -- a lack of prey.

While the ermines are compelled to ascend, the snow voles and mice they depend upon for food have no need to do so, as they don't change color.

Ski slopes also encroach on ermine habitat because of "competition for the areas where it snows the most," Granata said.

His research predicts ermine habitat in the Italian Alps will decrease by 40 percent by 2100, with ermines forced to climb by an average of 200 meters and the voles staying put.

There is little fuss made in Italy over ermines, which were once heavily hunted for their white pelts to adorn royal ceremonial robes. Scientists have paid them scant attention in recent decades, given the difficulty of gathering data on the fast-moving creatures.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's largest environmental network, last classified the ermine in 2015 as of "least concern" on a list of potentially threatened species.

But that influential list is out of date, argues Granata, who hopes his research will lead to their protection.

"The fact that a doctoral student is the expert on a species shows how little attention has actually been paid to this species," he said.

'Invisible world'

Every fall, Granata hikes Italy's Maritime Alps placing special camera traps -- plastic boxes with a motion-triggered camera inside -- that help him analyse the animal's seasonal patterns.

"You have to think like an ermine," he said, placing the box in areas where the curious mammal might go to find food.

When the snow melts, Granata collects the data from inside the boxes and watches a season's worth of videos and photos.

"It's like unwrapping a gift because you don't know what's inside... you actually see this invisible world," he said.

In one August video, an energetic stoat twists, sniffs and darts around in constant motion as he explores the box.

In October, after learning of the Games' choice of mascot, Granata launched an appeal to the Milano Cortina organizers, asking their sustainability team to help fund university research.

This week they sent a letter declining, which Granata considers a "huge missed opportunity".

The ermine, he said, isn't "just a cute little animal that roams our mountains, but a wild animal at risk of extinction".

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Turaif Hosts Falcon Festival with Over 700 Participants

The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs - SPA
The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs - SPA
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Turaif Hosts Falcon Festival with Over 700 Participants

The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs - SPA
The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs - SPA

The tenth edition of Northern Borders Falcon Festival commenced today in Turaif Governorate, in collaboration with the Saudi Falcons Club.

The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs.

The competition consists of 18 rounds, with total financial prizes exceeding SAR1 million, according to SPA.

The five-day festival includes various activities, including entertainment, cultural, and educational programs. It also features sections for families involved in the cottage industry, poetry evenings, and musical performances, with participation from several government agencies.

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Ghana Moves to Rewrite Mining Laws for Bigger Share of Gold Revenues

As the price of gold soars, Accra plans to revise its mining code to increase state revenue from the sector. Chris Stein / AFP/File
As the price of gold soars, Accra plans to revise its mining code to increase state revenue from the sector. Chris Stein / AFP/File
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Ghana Moves to Rewrite Mining Laws for Bigger Share of Gold Revenues

As the price of gold soars, Accra plans to revise its mining code to increase state revenue from the sector. Chris Stein / AFP/File
As the price of gold soars, Accra plans to revise its mining code to increase state revenue from the sector. Chris Stein / AFP/File

Ghana is preparing to overhaul its mining laws to increase its share of the revenues generated by the surge in the precious metal's price, sparking concern among foreign mining companies in Africa's top gold producer.

By revising its mining code, which currently offers foreign mining firms favorable tax and royalty terms, leaving the state with a limited stake, Ghana is following in the footsteps of other African countries, reported AFP.

They are looking to tighten control over natural resources as global demand for gold and critical minerals such as cobalt soars.

Among those that have recently introduced new mining laws are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and Tanzania.

Gold prices have skyrocketed recently, jumping more than 65 percent in 2025, climbing to fresh records above $5,100 on Monday.

"What we have since 2014 is a policy that has not been reviewed," Isaac Andrews Tandoh, acting chief executive officer of the Minerals Commission, told AFP.

"We had to do something to bridge this gap."

In Ghana, the world's sixth-largest gold producer, gold production is largely dominated by foreign companies such as the US's Newmont, South Africa's Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti and Australia's Perseus Mining.

Under proposed reforms expected to be presented to parliament by March, mining royalties would jump from the current three to five percent range to between nine and 12 percent, depending on global gold prices, Tandoh said.

Ghana's mining agreements typically freeze fiscal terms for between five and 15 years in exchange for investments that can exceed $500 million to build or expand mines.

But regulators say some companies renege on their commitments.

"We have seen companies with development agreements that refuse to develop the mine and instead use revenues from Ghana to acquire assets elsewhere," Tandoh said.

The reforms would scrap development agreements entirely and review stability clauses that shield investors from future policy changes, a move authorities say reflects Ghana's growing experience in managing the sector.

'Double-edged knife'

As African governments increasingly seek a bigger share of mining revenues amid a surge in commodity prices, officials acknowledge the challenge of balancing investor confidence with national benefit.

Mining policy strategist Ing. Wisdom Gomashie said Ghana currently captures only about 10 percent of total mineral value through royalties, dividends and taxes.

"The thinking of government is right," Gomashie said. "But the approach should not be draconian."

He warned that stability agreements, while open to reform, are crucial for protecting long-term investments and securing external financing, particularly in countries perceived as politically risky.

"Scrapping them outright, while simultaneously increasing royalties, could become a double-edged knife," Gomashie said.

Industry groups have also voiced concern.

Ghana Chamber of Mines CEO Kenneth Ashigbey said miners were not opposed to the state seeking higher returns but warned that the current proposals risk undermining competitiveness.

"What we are advocating for is a sweet spot, one where government secures sustainable revenues while the industry can expand, reinvest and take advantage of high gold prices," Ashigbey told AFP.

Large-scale mining firms in Ghana already face a high tax burden, including a five percent royalty on gross revenue and a 35 percent corporate income tax, the chamber said.

Alongside fiscal reforms, Ghana has tightened gold trading rules, particularly in the small-scale sector, to curb smuggling and improve transparency.

Ghana's Gold Board spokesman, Prince Minkah said new licensing and tracking systems have helped formalize the trade and boost foreign exchange earnings.

"We now have the data to track when, where and how traders operate," Minkah told AFP.

Ghana recorded about $10.5 billion in gold export earnings last year.

The country's proposed mining reforms come as the country faces rising fiscal pressure.

It ended 2025 as Africa's fourth-largest IMF debtor, with $4.1 billion outstanding, and recently received a further $365 million under a bailout program.

Public debt stood at 684.6 billion cedis ($55.1 billion) in September, intensifying the push for domestic revenue and economic stabilization.