True origin of ‘first black Briton’ confirmed, DNA study confirms

A Roman-era skeleton once hailed as the earliest known black Briton and later speculated to be of Cypriot descent has been shown to have originated from southern England, after advances in DNA sequencing produced a high-quality genetic readout from the remains.

The mystery of Beachy Head Woman’s shifting identity was resolved using technology that produced a more than tenfold improvement in DNA coverage, revealing she had a strong genetic similarity to individuals from rural Britain. She likely had blue eyes, between pale and dark skin, and light hair, scientists said, according to The Guardian.

“She’s had quite a journey,” said Dr Selina Brace, of the Natural History Museum in London and senior author of the research. “She was held up as a public figure. Now she’s being used to show how science advances. She’s just this local girl who grew up in Eastbourne.”

Forensic anthropologists had initially suggested in 2013 the woman may have been of sub-Saharan African origin based on skull analysis, and in 2016 a plaque was erected “to commemorate the first black Briton”.

According to the paper, “the discovery of the ‘first black Briton known to us’ gained traction across several media outlets, non-fiction books, educational resources and academic publications.” A craniofacial reconstruction had depicted her with curly black hair, brown eyes and dark skin.

Doubts emerged when a 2017 DNA analysis strongly suggested the skeleton was not of African origin. After a vote by parish councillors, the plaque was taken down. Cyprus appeared a closer match, with scientists suggesting she may have grown up around Eastbourne but been born in Cyprus, but the findings were inconclusive as the DNA was so degraded that only a tiny fraction of the genome had been retrieved.

Prof Caroline Wilkinson, a forensic anthropologist at John Moores University who performed the initial analysis and is a co-author of the latest findings, said skull features had suggested sub-Saharan Africa. “Everything was couched in some caution, though,” she said, adding that there has been a shift away from making ancestry classifications based on skull shape. “We know that variation in faces overlaps between different populations.”

The skeletal remains were uncovered in 2012 in the collections of Eastbourne town hall, with details on the box suggesting the skeleton had been found at nearby Beachy Head in the 1950s. The only information was a label saying “Beachy Head (1959)”, gaining her the moniker the “Beachy Head Lady” after the beauty spot.

Radiocarbon dating showed the woman died between AD129 and 311, corresponding to the Roman occupation of Britain. Analysis of her skeletal remains suggests she was about 18 to 25 years old when she died and stood 5ft (152cm) tall. A healed wound on her leg suggests a serious but non-fatal injury at some point in her life. Scientists cannot determine her cause of death.

Dietary analysis of carbon and nitrogen values in her bones revealed evidence that fish had been a greater component of her diet, consistent with living on the coast.

The latest analysis used capture arrays, designed to pull out tiny fragments of ancient DNA so that a more complete sequence can be patched together.

“It doesn’t alter the story of Britain,” said Brace. “It just alters her story and we owed it to her to put that right.”

The paper, titled “Beachy Head Woman: clarifying her origins using a multiproxy anthropological and biomolecular approach”, was published online on Wednesday in the Journal of Archaeological Science. It was authored by a team from the Natural History Museum, University College London, Heritage Eastbourne, University of Reading and Liverpool John Moores University.

(Source: BBC, The Guardian/Picture: Face Lab/Liverpool John Moores University)