Considered as a major breakthrough, researchers have sequenced the entire genome of an ancient Egyptian person, revealing unprecedented insight about the ancestry of a man who lived during the time when the first pyramids were built.
The man, whose remains were found buried in a sealed clay pot in Nuwayrat, a village south of Cairo, lived sometime between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago, which makes his DNA the oldest ancient Egyptian sample yet extracted. The researchers concluded that 80 percent of his genetic material came from ancient people in North Africa while 20 percent traced back to people in West Asia and the Mesopotamia region.
Their findings, published last 2 July in the journal Nature, offer new clues to suggest there were ancient cultural connections between ancient Egypt and societies within the Fertile Crescent, an area that includes modern-day Iraq (once known as Mesopotamia), Iran and Jordan. While scientists have suspected these connections, before now the only evidence for them was archaeological, rather than genetic.
The scientists also studied the man’s skeleton to determine more about his identity and found extensive evidence of hard labor over the course of a long life.
"Piecing together all the clues from this individual’s DNA, bones and teeth have allowed us to build a comprehensive picture," said lead study author Dr. Adeline Morez Jacobs, visiting research fellow at England’s Liverpool John Moores University, in a statement. "We hope that future DNA samples from ancient Egypt can expand on when precisely this movement from West Asia started."
Pottery and other artifacts have suggested that Egyptians may have traded goods and knowledge across neighboring regions, but genetic evidence of just how closely different ancient civilizations mingled has been harder to pin down because conditions such as heat and humidity quickly degrade DNA, according to the study authors. This man’s remains, however, were unusually well-preserved in their burial container, and the scientists were able to extract DNA from one of the skeleton’s teeth.
While the findings only capture the genetic background of one person, experts said additional work could help answer an enduring question about the ancestry of the first Egyptians who lived at the beginning of the longest-lasting known civilization.
The man, who died during a time of transition between Egypt’s Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods, was not mummified before burial because it was not yet standard practice — and that likely preserved his DNA, the researchers said.
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