ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997 TAG: 9703100110
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LONDON
SOURCE: WILLIAM D. MONTALBANO LOS ANGELES TIMES
Scientists have found a direct descendant of a Stone Age man.
After he was killed by a blow to the face about 9,000 years ago, the 23-year-old hunter was laid to rest in a limestone cave in what is now southwest England.
Now, say scientists astonishingly bridging 90 centuries and 300 generations, they have found a direct descendant of the Stone Age man.
He lives half a mile from the burial site and teaches history.
``I've been in the cave a few times, but I never realized it was home,'' 42-year-old Adrian Targett said Saturday, still good-naturedly coming to terms with astonishment - and an unexpected instant of fame..
``I'm overwhelmed. I couldn't believe it,'' Targett said of learning that DNA tests had identified him as a direct descendant (on his mother's side) of Britain's oldest complete skeleton, found in the cave near Cheddar village. The atmosphere in the cave in the cheese-famous Somerset region of Britain helped preserve the skeleton, which was discovered by workers digging a drain in 1903.
His ancestor, now on display at the Natural History Museum in London, drew the attention of TV producers preparing a documentary on archeology in Somerset.
Would it be possible to extract Cheddar Man's DNA, they wondered?
Scientists from the museum and from Oxford University found that despite the skeleton's great age, it was possible to extract mitochondrial DNA from a tooth cavity in the skeleton.
Mitochondrial DNA, which is found in parts of the cells used for generating energy, is inherited unchanged down the maternal line. It is easier to recover from ancient bones than nuclear DNA, which carries genes from both mothers and fathers.
After laborious months of research, the scientists charted the old hunter's genetic makeup. Then came the detective work.
Scientists and a camera crew appeared one day at Kings of Wessex school in Cheddar, which is no stranger to archeology: It is built amid the ruins on an old Saxon palace.
``They wanted to take DNA samples from some of the students whose families had lived longest in the area,'' Targett said. ``I gave a [cheek swab] sample too, just to encourage the children and to make up the numbers.''
About 20 samples were taken.
Targett's family has lived in the area at least since the mid-19th century, he said, but he moved to Cheddar only coincidentally after he began teaching there 20 years ago.
When the results were in at Oxford, the DNA had conclusively shown Targett to be a direct descendant of Cheddar's cave man.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Researcher Chris Stringer shows offby CNBthe skull of Cheddar Man, found in a limestone cave.