The Beachy Head Woman, originally dubbed as the earliest recorded black Briton, later speculated to be of Cypriot descent, has now been identified as having southern English origins. The mystery of the excavated skeleton, believed to belong to the Roman era, is slowly starting to unfold after the latest technologies in DNA sequencing produced a high-quality genetic readout from the human remains.
In the past, forensic anthropologists presumed that the skeleton of the woman found on Beachy Head, East Sussex, may have originated from sub-Saharan Africa based on the skull analysis. In 2016, a plaque was installed in her honour as the 'first black Briton'. The plaque had been removed in 2023 after succeeding studies debunked the theory about her sub-Saharan African origin.
