What kind of cheese were our ancestors?

Even though a 10,000-year-old collection of bones was dubbed ‘Cheddar Man’ a century ago, most people would still wonder what kind of cheese he really was. His size, shape and looks are left not only to the dictates of science but also the imagination of those engaged in reconstructing at least his face. Little wonder then that the recent depiction of arguably the oldest complete Briton ever excavated as very dark-skinned and curly haired but blue-eyed, is eliciting disbelieving responses. Of course, DNA cannot be argued with, and it indicates dark as the most probable skin tone, but this certainly alters the self-image of a people at a time when race and colour are hot button issues. Darwin’s theory of evolution is not the only scientific assertion that many find hard to swallow, after all.

Nearly 20 skeletons of ancient Indians of the Indus Valley civilisation have been excavated in Rakhigarhi in Haryana in the last decade. Their DNA test results are supposed to be finally out this month. Leaked reports so far suggest nothing as surprising as the Cheddar Man’s skin tone or even the fact that there are living descendants of the 5,000-year-old Otzi the Iceman who was found in the Tyrollean Alps in 1991. Indeed, it seems today’s Haryanvi Jats are not very genetically different from those antediluvian Indians. Many Indians would not dispute that.