Exclusive: DNA advances show Roman-era skeleton, once hailed as first black Briton, came from southern England
Beachy Head Woman, a Roman-era skeleton once hailed as the earliest known black Briton and who scientists later speculated could be of Cypriot descent, has now been shown to have originated from southern England.
The mystery of the skeleton’s shifting identity was finally resolved after advances in DNA sequencing produced a high-quality genetic readout from the remains.
Previously, forensic anthropologists had suggested that the woman may have been of sub-Saharan Africa origin based on an analysis of the skull and, in 2016, a plaque was erected to “to commemorate the first black Briton”.
Doubts about this theory emerged when an initial DNA analysis pointed to Cyprus as a more likely origin, although this result was not conclusive.
