Mummy DNA unravels ancient Egyptians’ ancestry

Ajackson17
Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
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The tombs of ancient Egypt have yielded golden collars and ivory bracelets, but another treasure — human DNA — has proved elusive. Now, scientists have captured sweeping genomic information from Egyptian mummies. It reveals that mummies were closely related to ancient Middle Easterners, hinting that northern Africans might have different genetic roots from people south of the Sahara desert.

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The study, published on 30 May in Nature Communications1, includes data from 90 mummies buried between 1380 bc, during Egypt’s New Kingdom, and ad 425, in the Roman era. The findings show that the mummies’ closest kin were ancient farmers from a region that includes present-day Israel and Jordan. Modern Egyptians, by contrast, have inherited more of their DNA from central Africans.

Archaeological discoveries and historical documents suggest close ties between Egypt and the Middle East, but “it is very nice that this study has now provided empirical evidence for this at the genetic level”, says evolutionary anthropologist Omer Gokcumen of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Egypt’s searing climate and the ancient practice of embalming bodies has made the recovery of intact genetic material daunting. The first DNA sequences thought to be from a mummy2 were probably the result of modern contamination, and many scientists are sceptical3 of purported genetic information acquired from the mummy of King Tutankhamun4.

The latest analysis succeeded by bypassing soft tissue — often abundant in Egyptian mummies — to seek DNA from bone and teeth. Researchers carefully screened the DNA to rule out contamination from anyone who had handled the mummies since their excavation a century ago in the ancient town of Abusir el-Meleq.

“More than half of the mummies we studied had pretty decent DNA preservation,” says co-author Johannes Krause, a palaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany.

The team “succeeds where previous studies on Egyptian mummies have failed or fallen short”, says Hannes Schroeder, a palaeo­geneticist at the University of Copenhagen. Now, researchers can hope to answer questions such as whether immigration drove ancient-Egyptian population growth, adds Sonia Zakrzewski, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Southampton, UK.

The scientists obtained information about variations in mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to child, from 90 mummies. Because of contamination, the team was able to acquire detailed nuclear DNA, which is inherited from both parents, from only three mummies.

Both types of genomic material showed that ancient Egyptians shared little DNA with modern sub-Saharan Africans. Instead, their closest relatives were people living during the Neolithic and Bronze ages in an area known as the Levant. Strikingly, the mummies were more closely related to ancient Europeans and Anatolians than to modern Egyptians.

The researchers say that there was probably a pulse of sub-Saharan African DNA into Egypt roughly 700 years ago. The mixing of ancient Egyptians and Africans from further south means that modern Egyptians can trace 8% more of their ancestry to sub-Saharan Africans than can the mummies from Abusir el-Meleq.

The new data can’t explain why the ancient Egyptians were so tightly aligned with people from the Middle East. Was it the result of migration, or were the Stone Age hunter-gatherers of northern Africa genetically similar to those of the Levant? It’s too early to tell, Krause says, but there’s a better chance now of getting answers. “This is the first glimpse of the genetic history of Egypt,” he says. “But it’s really just the start.”

Nature 546, 17 (01 June 2017) doi:10.1038/546017a
Tweet Follow @NatureNews
References

Schuenemann, V. J. et al. Nature Commun. 8, 15694 (2017).
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Comments

  • jetlifebih
    jetlifebih Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 4,655 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2017
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Also basically to piggyback, but they only did one specific area which was known for having foreigners this is where history has to intertwined with DNA analysis. I use to live very close to a Jewish graveyard and if you did their DNA and you would think the total make up currently would be them which could be further than the truth. They have to test out the ones who done the actual building and nor they do DNA with obvious phenotypes that are closer to sub-saharan africans who were pivotal to Egypt's greatness.

    Brother Reggie went in on this.
  • Busta Carmichael
    Busta Carmichael Members, Moderators Posts: 13,161 Regulator
    Found an article a couple of weeks ago that showed alot of mummies were black.

    Also they found the oldest afro pick there. Let me find it
  • TheNightKing
    TheNightKing Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 2,484 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Cliff notes please. Yeah I'm being lazy right now, ? it.
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    charles2 wrote: »
    Cliff notes please. Yeah I'm being lazy right now, ? it.

    They did DNA on a specific region and specific time periods and found out that these people don't have much sub-saharan ancestry and more closer related to Levant (Canaanites), Southern European (Sea People aka Philistines) and Turkish people (Hittites). Just studying the history of the specific region and time periods that they cover, there were many foreigners in this region and mixing was going on. So this was in the later half of Egypt's history. These would not be the pyramid builders.
  • Fosheezy
    Fosheezy Members Posts: 3,204 ✭✭✭✭✭
    White folk low key trying to pull another quick one on black history
  • bambu
    bambu Members Posts: 3,529 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I havent really read the original research....

    But, if that is true then the ancient people of the Levant looked like this....

    nsbmqswh25bl.jpg

    This was Amenhotep IV's biological mother....

    And that's tut's grandmother....

    The new kingdom is the most famous.....

    Whites have been trying to claim it and Akhenaten/Tutankhamun forever.....

  • SneakDZA
    SneakDZA Members Posts: 11,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The study, published on 30 May in Nature Communications1, includes data from 90 mummies buried between 1380 bc, during Egypt’s New Kingdom, and ad 425, in the Roman era.

    lol at this flagrant propaganda.

    of course those bootleg-ass mummies from the roman period would have Middle Eastern DNA. The Middle East was part of the roman empire then.

    26_mummy_boy_fayum_gdm1.jpg



  • bambu
    bambu Members Posts: 3,529 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2017
    SneakDZA wrote: »
    The study, published on 30 May in Nature Communications1, includes data from 90 mummies buried between 1380 bc, during Egypt’s New Kingdom, and ad 425, in the Roman era.

    lol at this flagrant propaganda.

    of course those bootleg-ass mummies from the roman period would have Middle Eastern DNA. The Middle East was part of the roman empire then.

    26_mummy_boy_fayum_gdm1.jpg



    Yes.....

    We know the Roman era would be European....

    They are trying to say that these people are more middle eastern than Africans.....

    spw5ibhlbr6y.jpg


    Musicians at a banquet. Mural from the tomb of Rekhmire, vizier under Thutmosis III (1490-1439 BCE) and Amenophis II (1439-1413 BCE). 18th Dynasty, New Kingdom, Egypt.

    http://www.msafropolitan.com/2015/11/ancient-egypt-was-black-african.html


  • The Lonious Monk
    The Lonious Monk Members Posts: 26,258 ✭✭✭✭✭
    bambu wrote: »
    I havent really read the original research....

    But, if that is true then the ancient people of the Levant looked like this....

    nsbmqswh25bl.jpg

    This was Amenhotep IV's biological mother....

    And that's tut's grandmother....

    The new kingdom is the most famous.....

    Whites have been trying to claim it and Akhenaten/Tutankhamun forever.....

    Lol They can have Tut. He didn't do ? .
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    bambu wrote: »
    I havent really read the original research....

    But, if that is true then the ancient people of the Levant looked like this....

    nsbmqswh25bl.jpg

    This was Amenhotep IV's biological mother....

    And that's tut's grandmother....

    The new kingdom is the most famous.....

    Whites have been trying to claim it and Akhenaten/Tutankhamun forever.....

    Lol They can have Tut. He didn't do ? .

    Sadly, this is so damn true. He just filled an empty void after his famous father passed away and the one people wanted was his elder brother who died from an accident. He just got the worst luck.
  • Fosheezy
    Fosheezy Members Posts: 3,204 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Anyone have good source material evidence for how long black Egypt largely remained black? Secular evidence preferred but I'll take Biblical as well :)
  • PILL_COSBY
    PILL_COSBY Members Posts: 6,374 ✭✭✭✭✭
    SMH, here these racist scientist go again lol. Anything they can get they hands on that don't look african lol. Thank ? some of y'all on here already pointed the ? out. I was about to go in. They are obsessed, they refuse to believe we did this unbelievable ? that we can barley understand in modern times. It's the same with the native australians. They just can't figure out how they can have natural straight hair, blonde hair, and blue/green eyes. With absolutely no connection to europeans. It's the same in some parts of africa that haven't ever been invaded. To this day a minority(most people of science don't indulge in this silly ? ) of racist scientist can't accept reality.

    I wish they would test the black folks that are left in egypt(who aint sucking Allah's ? ) DNA. That ? would answer a lot of questions. Why don't they test sudanese, somali's, libyans, and ethiopians? A lot of the O.G egyptians fled to those areas to escape the constant invasions. Hell, a lot of O.G egyptions are originally from these places. The people of Sudan straight up claim that they fled from egypt. When the arabs started to attack and islam started gaining momentum. Somalia has a direct connection to ancient egypt. Saw this documentary speaking on how arabs destroyed a lot of their history. Just like they did in egypt. They showed some hieroglyphs of some egyptians dancing. They discovered that some groups of somalis do this same exact dance today. It's a traditional old ass dance that they've been doing forever. Even some of their traditional outfits(not that arab ghost looking ? ) is very similar.
  • manikongo
    manikongo Members Posts: 69 ✭✭
  • The Lonious Monk
    The Lonious Monk Members Posts: 26,258 ✭✭✭✭✭
    manikongo wrote: »
    See

    That's some ether. If everything stated there is true, they misrepresented the new study even more than I thought.
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    PILL_COSBY wrote: »
    SMH, here these racist scientist go again lol. Anything they can get they hands on that don't look african lol. Thank ? some of y'all on here already pointed the ? out. I was about to go in. They are obsessed, they refuse to believe we did this unbelievable ? that we can barley understand in modern times. It's the same with the native australians. They just can't figure out how they can have natural straight hair, blonde hair, and blue/green eyes. With absolutely no connection to europeans. It's the same in some parts of africa that haven't ever been invaded. To this day a minority(most people of science don't indulge in this silly ? ) of racist scientist can't accept reality.

    I wish they would test the black folks that are left in egypt(who aint sucking Allah's ? ) DNA. That ? would answer a lot of questions. Why don't they test sudanese, somali's, libyans, and ethiopians? A lot of the O.G egyptians fled to those areas to escape the constant invasions. Hell, a lot of O.G egyptions are originally from these places. The people of Sudan straight up claim that they fled from egypt. When the arabs started to attack and islam started gaining momentum. Somalia has a direct connection to ancient egypt. Saw this documentary speaking on how arabs destroyed a lot of their history. Just like they did in egypt. They showed some hieroglyphs of some egyptians dancing. They discovered that some groups of somalis do this same exact dance today. It's a traditional old ass dance that they've been doing forever. Even some of their traditional outfits(not that arab ghost looking ? ) is very similar.

    They did tests on Modern Egyptians. In fact they are really descendants of ancient Egyptians. But only Y chromosome wise, their maternal ancestry is Levant aka Canaanite. It's no secret that African men were feenin for some Levant and Syrian women. Just like how some brothers today feenin for some white women.
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    manikongo wrote: »
    See

    That's some ether. If everything stated there is true, they misrepresented the new study even more than I thought.

    Yeah, the test wasn't pseudo, but they were using results to paint a picture that the Egyptians were these foreigners. It's more pseudo history.
  • rickmogul
    rickmogul Members Posts: 1,961 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Respect OP for the post but man, waaayyy too many European hands have exploited and controlled the narrative so long I can stomach ANYTHING from them. I can't trust their slant on our history.
  • waterproof
    waterproof Members Posts: 9,412 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    Ajackson17 wrote: »
    charles2 wrote: »
    Cliff notes please. Yeah I'm being lazy right now, ? it.

    They did DNA on a specific region and specific time periods and found out that these people don't have much sub-saharan ancestry and more closer related to Levant (Canaanites), Southern European (Sea People aka Philistines) and Turkish people (Hittites). Just studying the history of the specific region and time periods that they cover, there were many foreigners in this region and mixing was going on. So this was in the later half of Egypt's history. These would not be the pyramid builders.

    Meaning they are from the Black Shemetic Race and The Hamitic Race
  • rickmogul
    rickmogul Members Posts: 1,961 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Straight grave robbing man. They aren't utilizing the findings 2 further the betterment of humanity. They wanna prove Egyptians we're of Euro decent once and 4 all.
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    waterproof wrote: »
    Ajackson17 wrote: »
    charles2 wrote: »
    Cliff notes please. Yeah I'm being lazy right now, ? it.

    They did DNA on a specific region and specific time periods and found out that these people don't have much sub-saharan ancestry and more closer related to Levant (Canaanites), Southern European (Sea People aka Philistines) and Turkish people (Hittites). Just studying the history of the specific region and time periods that they cover, there were many foreigners in this region and mixing was going on. So this was in the later half of Egypt's history. These would not be the pyramid builders.

    Meaning they are from the Black Shemetic Race and The Hamitic Race

    The Lebanese are Canaanites descendants. They don't look "Hamitic" and "Shemitic" whatever that is.