CULTURE &SPORT NEWS

 Ancient Egyptian genome reveals Mesopotamian tiesAncient

 

Scientists have sequenced the oldest complete human genome from ancient Egypt, revealing genetic ties between early Egyptian civilization and Mesopotamia that date back nearly 5,000 years. The DNA, extracted from a potter who lived between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago, shows that ancient Egyptians carried ancestry from both North Africa and the Fertile Crescent region of West Asia.

The research, published Wednesday in Nature, represents the first whole genome sequenced from ancient Egypt and provides genetic evidence for cultural and population connections that archaeologists had previously only inferred from trade goods and artistic styles.Ancient Potter Reveals Genetic Mix

Researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and Liverpool John Moores University extracted DNA from the tooth of an individual buried in Nuwayrat, a village 165 miles south of Cairo The man lived during Egypt's Old Kingdom period, an era marked by political stability and the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Analysis revealed that 80 percent of his ancestry traced to ancient North African populations, while 20 percent linked to the eastern Fertile Crescent, including ancient Mesopotamia and neighboring regions. The individual lived to between 44 and 64 years old, an advanced age for his time, and stood about 5 feet 2 inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes4.

"This individual has been on an extraordinary journey," said Linus Girdland-Flink, senior author and lecturer at the University of Aberdeen

Overcoming Preservation Challenges

The breakthrough comes four decades after Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo first attempted to extract ancient DNA from Egyptian remains. Egypt's warm climate typically prevents DNA preservation, but this individual's burial in a ceramic pot within a rock-cut tomb created conditions that allowed genetic material to survive.

The remains had survived bombing during the London Blitz while housed at World Museum Liverpool, after being donated by the Egyptian Antiquities Service to British archaeologists in 1902.

Previous attempts to sequence ancient Egyptian DNA had yielded only partial genomes from three individuals who lived much later, between 1400 BCE and 400 CE. Those studies found that modern Egyptians have more sub-Saharan African ancestry than their ancient predecessors.