Scientists sequence the oldest and most complete genome of ancient Egypt, and the DNA reveals that the male who lived five or even thousand years ago had roots in both Mesopotamia and North Africa.
The man who lived in the old kingdom in the third millennium BC offers researchers a rare glimpse into the genetic roots of the ancient Egyptians just a few centuries after Upper Egypt and lower Egypt, unified into one empire.
The individual’s bodies were first recovered from the tomb of Nwelat in Upper Egypt in 1902, and now reveals new information about the genetic makeup of early Egyptians. Prior to this analysis, only three ancient Egyptian genomes were sequenced, all partial.
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“I was very surprised by the success of sequencing,” co-author Pontus Skoglund, who studies ancient DNA at the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, said at a press conference on Tuesday (July 1) before the publication of the paper. “Like many of these individuals, it was a long shot that worked.”
Old Potter
The statement found that radiocarbon dating sites lived between 2855 BC and 2855-2570 BC and 2855-2570 BC.
He was buried in a ceramic pot in a rock tomb and was well preserved to sequence two DNA extracts from the roots of his teeth. Researchers compared his genome with a library of thousands of known DNA samples.
Finally, they discovered that most of the male genome can be traced to the Neolithic ancestors of North Africa, according to a study published in the Journal on Wednesday (July 2). Approximately 20% of his DNA was associated with the fertile crescent moon in the eastern region, including ancient Mesopotamia and its adjacent areas.
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This body was very well preserved compared to other ancient Egyptian bodies. This is often degraded due to the high temperatures in the area. “Pot burials were combined with rock tombs where pot burials were located to provide a stable environment,” he said, likely to help preserve the DNA, as he was studying Linus Girdland-Flink, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen in the UK.
Related: Why are so many ancient Egyptians buried in the Saqqara Necropolis?
The man’s body provides clues about his life in ancient Egypt almost 5,000 years ago. He lived between the ages of 44 and 64, which would have been considered an older man at the time. Advanced osteoporosis and arthritis suggest that he was at the upper limit of his age group, co-author Joel Irish, who studies bioarchaeologist Joel Irish at the UK’s Liverpool John Moore University, said at the meeting.
The burial of a man in a ceramic pot and rock tomb refers to an elevated social status. This contrasts with many signs of intense manual labor in his body. The Irish found evidence that the man had handed and sat for a long time. This is a clue that he might have been a potter.
The genetic roots of ancient Egypt
Because most of the male genetic ancestry is linked to North Africa, it “emerged at least primarily from the local population of Egyptian population,” he said in a study by Adeline Mores Jacobs, a biologist at the University of Padua in Italy.
More prominently, the link to Mesopotamia was “very interesting because we actually know from archaeology that Egyptians and the fertile crescent cultures of the eastern region had an impact on each other for thousands of years,” she said. It was already known that the group shares agricultural practices with goods, domestic plants and animals, and writing systems, but this genome is evidence of a deeper mix of populations.
However, Mores Jacobs warned that the man’s DNA may not represent the wider Egyptian population of his time. “We need to remember, this is a single individual,” she said. “We didn’t capture the full diversity of our population.”
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