Cheddar Man
A 9,000-year-old skeleton in Somerset was genetically matched to a local man named Adrian Targett.
Their mitochondrial DNA reveals an unbroken maternal lineage spanning 300 generations — the longest verified lineage in history.
DNA from a 9,000-year-old skeleton just matched a local schoolteacher — meet the world's oldest known relative!
In a remarkable meeting of ancient history and modern science, a 42-year-old history teacher from Somerset, Adrian Targett, was revealed to be a direct maternal-line descendant of “Cheddar Man."
Cheddar Man is the name given to a 9,000-year-old skeleton discovered in a cave in Cheddar Gorge.
DNA testing on a molar from the skeleton linked him unequivocally to Targett, establishing the oldest known confirmed family connection in the world.
The link between Cheddar Man and Adrian Targett easily outstrips the existing record for distant ancestors.
The oldest previously recorded relative was the great- great-great-great grandfather of Confucius who lived in the eighth century BC.
Two of Confucius's 85th lineal male descendants today live in Taiwan.
8 March 1997
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/the-family-link-that-reaches-back-300-generations-to-a-cheddar-cave-1271542.html
7 February 2O18
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5364983/amp/Retired-history-teacher-believes-looks-like-Cheddar-Man.html
