10. Ava’s Features Were Debated Because of Modern-Day White Washing
In 1987, the bones of a woman who died 4,250 years ago were discovered at Achavanich in Caithness, United Kingdom. The body was given the nickname “Ava” since they had no way of knowing her true identity. According to the DNA, she was descended from mainland Europeans who migrated to England only a few generations before her birth. When researchers first did a 3D recreation of her, they gave her red hair and blue eyes.
But, after doing more genetic research through the Natural History Museum in London and Harvard Medical School, it was discovered that she would have actually had darker hair and eyes. Just like The Cheddar Man, early Europeans didn’t look like how we imagine British people today. Researchers are excited by the evidence they’ve gathered from Ava, because it means that human beings were migrating from mainland Europe much earlier than originally thought.
