5. The World’s Farthest Away Family
Discovered year: 1803
Estimated Value: N/A
When Adrian Targett, a 42-year-old history teacher, discovered that the 9,000-year-old Cheddar Man’s DNA matched his own, via his mother’s line, he formed an incredible genealogical connection. This prehistoric skeleton, the earliest complete one discovered in England, belonged to a hunter-gatherer who lived before agriculture was invented, circa 7000 BCE.
The Farthest Away Relative in the World Copyright Joseph Maguire/Shutterstock
The discovery was made during a DNA test for the archeology program “Once Upon a Time in the West.” The match was verified by Oxford University’s Institute of Molecular Medicine, which cast doubt on earlier theories regarding the spread of farming among early human groups and illuminated the residents’ lineage.