Mummy DNA unravels ancient Egyptians’ ancestry

[Apech]

Quote

 

Genetic analysis reveals a close relationship with Middle Easterners, not central Africans.

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. 

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Archaeological discoveries and historical documents suggest close ties between Egypt and the Middle East, but “it is very nice that this study has now provided empirical evidence for this at the genetic level”,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.

 

Nature article

 

 

Edited May 30, 2017 by Apech

[Marblehead]

I took that stand a while back without any hard evidence.  I'm glad there is now evidence supporting my understanding.

 

 

[Jeff]

Thanks.  

[Apech]

47 minutes ago, Marblehead said:

I took that stand a while back without any hard evidence.  I'm glad there is now evidence supporting my understanding.

 

 

 

 

You did?  Why?  There is a lot of archeological evidence which appears to show that they migrated to the Nile Valley from the Sahara when it dried up leaving desert conditions - which must now be misleading because it seems they came down from the Levant.  This new evidence seems to squash the 'we were kings' black african origin theory - which will cause considerable problems to some.  I'm agnostic on this one - but facts are facts.

 

 

[Marblehead]

9 minutes ago, Apech said:

You did?  Why?  There is a lot of archeological evidence which appears to show that they migrated to the Nile Valley from the Sahara when it dried up leaving desert conditions - which must now be misleading because it seems they came down from the Levant.  This new evidence seems to squash the 'we were kings' black african origin theory - which will cause considerable problems to some.  I'm agnostic on this one - but facts are facts.

 

Yep, I did.  You have more knowledge on this than I have.  And I do recall that there was at least one Pharaoh who was without doubt sub-Saharan.  But generally speaking, the Egyptians  almost certainly migrated from the Tigris/Euphrates area.  They even brought much of their culture with them.

 

 

[thelerner]

The Egyptian empire lasted so long its hard to make generalizations.  By the end, it was Greek, Cleopatra was a Ptolemy.  Looking at the people on the walls, it seems most people depicted were darker skinned then the most in the Middle East.   Though race might be skewed because the ruling class tended to be very incestuous. 

[Apech]

5 hours ago, Marblehead said:

Yep, I did.  You have more knowledge on this than I have.  And I do recall that there was at least one Pharaoh who was without doubt sub-Saharan.  But generally speaking, the Egyptians  almost certainly migrated from the Tigris/Euphrates area.  They even brought much of their culture with them.

 

 

 

 

The study was 90 mummies from the New Kingdom through to the Graeco-Roman era.  So on the face of it conclusive.

[gendao]

On 5/31/2017 at 3:34 PM, Apech said:

The study was 90 mummies from the New Kingdom through to the Graeco-Roman era.  So on the face of it conclusive.

What about Akhenatalien?

[Apech]

7 hours ago, gendao said:

What about Akhenatalien?

 

I don't think his mummy has been discovered - and also that line of kings at the end of the 18th Dynasty were not all Egyptian - his grandparents i think were Libyan.

 

 

[thelerner]

Apech, what's your take on the finding of cocaine and tobacco in Mummy's? 

 

I know its controversial and has been excused by some as contamination, but I think there's been more evidence.  If true, it could prove ancient Egyptian trade routes to the New World. 

FWIW- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_contact_theories#Claims_of_Egyptian_coca_and_tobacco

that link has fascinating history in it.  I particularly liked the stories of Japanese ships in 1833 and 1850 that were blown off course and landed in California.  One being enslaved by the local tribe (til rescued) the other in 1850, involved the sailors being assimilated into the local tribe.  Such relatively recent history is not speculative.

 

I like to think the ancient was much more connected then we often think.  Though often such routes were considered secrets or forgotten.  Did Columbus sail to the America in possession of an ancient map or knowledge passed on from another who'd been there before..?  maybe.  It's proven that the vikings had a settlement in Canada around 1000 BCE

[futuredaze]

I'd be interested if the Pharaohs in the Old Kingdom had similar genetics.  Egypt has had a long history, so I wouldn't be surprised if the dominant group changed a couple times over the millennia.

[Apech]

On 6/4/2017 at 10:30 PM, thelerner said:

Apech, what's your take on the finding of cocaine and tobacco in Mummy's? 

 

I know its controversial and has been excused by some as contamination, but I think there's been more evidence.  If true, it could prove ancient Egyptian trade routes to the New World. 

FWIW- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_contact_theories#Claims_of_Egyptian_coca_and_tobacco

that link has fascinating history in it.  I particularly liked the stories of Japanese ships in 1833 and 1850 that were blown off course and landed in California.  One being enslaved by the local tribe (til rescued) the other in 1850, involved the sailors being assimilated into the local tribe.  Such relatively recent history is not speculative.

 

I like to think the ancient was much more connected then we often think.  Though often such routes were considered secrets or forgotten.  Did Columbus sail to the America in possession of an ancient map or knowledge passed on from another who'd been there before..?  maybe.  It's proven that the vikings had a settlement in Canada around 1000 BCE

 

I don't know for certain - but I am sure that we have always been much more connected than was previously supposed.  I think trade lanes were wider and more extensive than we know - and it is possible that cocaine and tobacco travelled, possibly through several carriers and so direct contact between Egypt and the new World is not necessary to explain it's presence.

 

[Apech]

7 hours ago, futuredaze said:

I'd be interested if the Pharaohs in the Old Kingdom had similar genetics.  Egypt has had a long history, so I wouldn't be surprised if the dominant group changed a couple times over the millennia.

 

 

Yes that would be interesting to know.