# Cheddar Man Cheddar Man is the nickname for a 9,000-year-old human fossil from Somerset whose February 2018 genomic reconstruction revealed dark skin and blue eyes, upending common assumptions about ancient Britons. The Natural History Museum's reveal triggered a short run of Twitter jokes mixing cheese puns on the name with half-serious thirst posts about the reconstructed face, which the BBC and The Independent covered within days. ## Origin The fossil was excavated in 1903 from Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, and dates to the Mesolithic period around 9,100 BCE[1]. On February 7, 2018, the Natural History Museum in London published findings by postdoctoral researcher Dr. Tom Booth, who reported that DNA analysis of the skull showed Cheddar Man had dark pigmentation, blue eyes, and dark curly hair[1]. A bust produced from the genome data accompanied the release and became the image Twitter users reacted to that evening[2]. - **Platform:** Twitter - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2018 ## Overview Cheddar Man jokes split into two main formats. One batch played the dark-skinned reconstruction as unexpectedly attractive, with tweets asking who 'fancies Cheddar Man' or calling the bust an awkward crush of the day[5]. Other accounts worked the dairy angle, pairing the face with cheese-themed alternate names or images like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit reading a magazine called Cheese Monthly[3]. Running under the jokes was a sharper argument about race and British identity. The Independent read the Cheddar Man reveal as a punchline against the long assumption that early Britons had been fair-skinned, with the Twitter reaction mirroring Brexit-era anxiety[4]. The museum used the dark-skin finding to correct older, lighter reconstructions of the same skeleton[1]. ## How to Use Posts typically take one of two angles. Cheese-based name riffs swap in dairy-themed alternates for the name or pair the bust with cheese-related pop culture like a Wallace and Gromit screenshot. Attraction tweets play the reconstruction as an unexpected crush, often with a 'who fancies' prompt or a hand-raise gesture. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Cheddar Man? Cheddar Man is a Mesolithic fossil whose February 2018 facial reconstruction showed dark skin and blue eyes, which triggered a short-lived Twitter meme[1]. ### Where did Cheddar Man come from? The fossil was excavated in 1903 from Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, and is held at the Natural History Museum in London[1]. ### What does Cheddar Man mean? Scientifically, it names a roughly 9,000-year-old human skeleton. Online, the term points to the February 2018 Twitter jokes about the reconstructed face, split between cheese puns and thirst tweets[2]. ### How do you use Cheddar Man? Posts typically pun on 'cheddar' with cheese names or play the reconstruction as an attractive crush in a mock-serious tone[5]. ### Is Cheddar Man still popular? The jokes were tied to the February 2018 news cycle and faded after that week, though the discovery still appears in debates about British racial history[4]. ## References 1. [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/cheddar-man-mesolithic-britain-blue-eyed-boy.html]() 2. [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-42976121]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cheddar-man]() 4. [http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/cheddar-man-latest-somerset-racial-identity-brexit-donald-trump-meghan-markle-a8199341.html]() 5. [https://twitter.com/i/moments/961267898902831104]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/cheddar-man Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library