The remains were examined and dated by the methods available at the time. Early analysis suggested the skeleton was from the late Paleolithic or early Mesolithic period — estimates that later radiocarbon dating would refine. A 1914 paper published under the title “The Cheddar Man: A Skeleton of Late Paleolithic Date” measured the skull and compared it with other prehistoric skulls. The skeletal evidence suggested the individual was male and had died as a young adult, probably in his mid-twenties, though as with all such estimates from skeletal analysis, there is inherent uncertainty.
The remains were acquired by the Natural History Museum and eventually placed on public display in the Human Origins Hall. For most of the twentieth century, Cheddar Man was a significant specimen in the museum’s collection — the oldest nearly complete human skeleton found in Britain — but one about which relatively little was scientifically established beyond the basic physical facts of the bones themselves.
What he looked like in life, where he came from, how his people had arrived in Britain, and why his remains ended up in this particular cave were questions that the skeleton alone could not answer.
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## What Bones Can and Cannot Tell You
Before ancient DNA analysis became practical, what researchers could extract from skeletal remains was valuable but limited. Physical anthropologists could estimate sex from pelvic and skull morphology. They could estimate age at death from dental eruption patterns, bone fusion, and the degree of wear on various skeletal features. They could make rough assessments of height from long bone lengths. They could note pathologies — healed injuries, signs of disease in the bone, dental decay — that might shed light on an individual’s health and life experiences.