Latest news with #Nuwayrat
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Ancient Egyptians had surprising FOREGIN roots: Scientists sequence the DNA of a man who lived 4,800 years ago – revealing a genetic link to the Mesopotamia culture
It's widely considered one of the cradles of civilisation. But a new study has revealed that people living in ancient Egypt may actually have had foreign roots. Scientists have sequenced the DNA of a man who lived in ancient Egypt between 4,495 and 4,880 years ago. Their analysis reveals a genetic link to the Mesopotamia culture - a civilisation that flourished in ancient Iraq and the surrounding regions. The team, from Liverpool John Moores University, was able extract DNA from the man's teeth, which had been preserved alongside his skeleton in a sealed funeral pot in Nuwayrat. Four-fifths of the genome showed links to North Africa and the region around Egypt. But a fifth of the genome showed links to the area in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent, where Mesopotamian civilization flourished. 'This suggests substantial genetic connections between ancient Egypt and the eastern Fertile Crescent,' said Adeline Morez Jacobs, lead author of the study. Although based on a single genome, the findings offer unique insight into the genetic history of ancient Egyptians - a difficult task considering that Egypt's hot climate is not conducive to DNA preservation. The researchers extracted DNA from the roots of two teeth, part of the man's skeletal remains that had been interred for millennia inside a large sealed ceramic vessel within a rock-cut tomb. They then managed to sequence his whole genome, a first for any person who lived in ancient Egypt. The man lived roughly 4,500-4,800 years ago, the researchers said, around the beginning of a period of prosperity and stability called the Old Kingdom, known for the construction of immense pyramids as monumental pharaonic tombs. The ceramic vessel was excavated in 1902 at a site called Nuwayrat near the village of Beni Hassan, approximately 170 miles (270 km) south of Cairo. The researchers said the man was about 60 years old when he died, and that aspects of his skeletal remains hinted at the possibility that he had worked as a potter. The DNA showed that the man descended mostly from local populations, with about 80 per cent of his ancestry traced to Egypt or adjacent parts of North Africa. But about 20 per cent of his ancestry was traced to a region of the ancient Near East called the Fertile Crescent that included Mesopotamia. The findings build on the archaeological evidence of trade and cultural exchanges between ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, a region spanning modern-day Iraq and parts of Iran and Syria. During the third millennium BC, Egypt and Mesopotamia were at the vanguard of human civilization, with achievements in writing, architecture, art, religion and technology. Egypt showed cultural connections with Mesopotamia, based on some shared artistic motifs, architecture and imports like lapis lazuli, the blue semiprecious stone, the researchers said. The pottery wheel from Mesopotamia first appeared in Egypt at about the time the man lived, a period when the earliest pyramids began to spring up near modern-day Cairo, starting with the Step Pyramid of the pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara and later the Great Pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu at Giza. About 90 per cent of the man's skeleton was preserved. He stood about 5-foot-3 (1.59 meters) tall, with a slender build. He also had conditions consistent with older age such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, as well as a large unhealed abscess from tooth infection. 'Ancient DNA recovery from Egyptian remains has been exceptionally challenging due to Egypt's hot climate that accelerates DNA degradation, with high temperatures breaking down genetic material over time compared to cooler, more stable environments,' study co-author Pontus Skoglund said. 'In this case, the individual's burial in a ceramic pot vessel within a rock-cut tomb likely contributed to the unusual DNA preservation for the region.' The fact that his burial occurred before mummification became standard practice in Egypt may have helped avoid DNA degradation because his remains were spared elaborate preservation techniques. Scientists have struggled to recover ancient Egyptian genomes, according to paleogeneticist and study co-author Linus Girdland Flink of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. One previous effort yielded partial genome sequencing of three individuals who lived some 1,500 years after the Nuwayrat man. Given the track record, the researchers were surprised with their success in sequencing the man's genome. 'Yeah, it was a long shot,' Skoglund said. The man may have worked as a potter or in a trade with similar movements because his bones had muscle markings from sitting for long periods with outstretched limbs. 'All indicators are consistent with movements and positions of a potter, as indicated in ancient Egyptian imagery,' said bioarcheologist and study co-author Joel Irish. 'He would have been of high status to have been buried in a rock-cut tomb. 'This conflicts with his hard physical life and conjecture that he was a potter, which would ordinarily have been working class. Perhaps he was an excellent potter.' Mesopotamia is known as the 'cradle of civilization', but what made it so great? A historical area of the Middle-East that spans most of what is now known as Iraq but also stretched to include parts of Syria and Turkey. The term 'Mesopotamia' comes from Greek, meaning 'between two rivers'. The two rivers that the name refers to are the Tigris river and the Euphrates. Unlike many other empires (such as the Greeks and the Romans) Mesopotamia consisted of several different cultures and groups. Mesopotamia should be more properly understood as a region that produced multiple empires and civilizations rather than any single civilization. Mesopotamia is known as the 'cradle of civilization' primarily because of two developments: the invention of the 'city' as we know it today and the invention of writing. Thought to be responsible for many early developments, it is also credited with the invention of the wheel. They also gave the world the first mass domestication of animals, cultivated great swathes of land and invented tools and weaponry. As well as these practical developments, the region saw the birth of wine, beer and demarcation of time into hours, minutes, and seconds. It is thought that the fertile land between the two rivers allowed hunter-gathers a a comfortable existence which led to the agricultural revolution. A common thread throughout the area was the equal treatment of women.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Science
- Telegraph
Everything we've learnt from first DNA of ancient Egyptian
The first complete DNA study of an Ancient Egyptian has revealed he was probably a celebrated potter who was given an oddly luxurious burial. The skeleton of a middle-aged man, who lived between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago, was found crammed into a ceramic pot in a tomb cut into the hillside at Nuwayrat, around 165 miles south of Cairo. He lived during the Fourth Dynasty, an important time when the first and greatest pyramids were constructed, under the reign of pharaohs such as Khufu and Khafre. Until now it has been difficult to sequence DNA in Ancient Egyptians because the mummification process destroys the delicate molecule. However, the man's burial took place before mummification became standard practice in Egypt and his body was instead preserved by the warm and dry conditions of the desert. This allowed British experts from the Francis Crick Institute and Liverpool John Moores University to extract DNA from a tooth root. The remains showed severe signs of arthritis and suggested he had spent many years sitting on a hard surface with his arms and legs outstretched and his head bent over. Joel Irish, professor of dental anthropology and archaeology at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) said: 'Though circumstantial, these clues point towards pottery, including use of a pottery wheel, which arrived in Egypt around the same time. 'That said, his higher-class burial is not expected for a potter, who would not normally receive such treatment. 'He was in an upper class burial. Someone went to all the work to put him in a rock cut tomb and he was in this large pottery vessel. That is at odds with the fact he had an incredibly hard physical life. 'Perhaps he was exceptionally skilled or successful enough to advance his social status.' The man's DNA showed that most of his ancestry came from North Africa, but around 20 per cent was related to ancient individuals from the Fertile Crescent – an area of West Asia encompassing modern-day countries such as Iraq, Iran and Jordan. While archaeological evidence has shown that trade and cultural connections existed between Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, this is the first evidence that populations were also interbreeding. Researchers have speculated that the man may have been one of the first to use a pottery wheel, which was invented in Mesopotamia and then brought to Egypt by the Fourth Dynasty. Before that pots were made with the coiled method, so it is possible his high status at death was linked to his ability to use the new technology. His skeleton was excavated in 1902 and donated to World Museum Liverpool, where it later survived bombings during the Blitz that destroyed most of the museum's human remains collection. 'Extraordinary' Linus Girdland Flink, a lecturer in ancient biomolecules at the University of Aberdeen and visiting researcher at LJMU said: 'This individual has been on an extraordinary journey. He lived and died during a critical period of change in ancient Egypt. 'We've now been able to tell part of the individual's story, finding that some of his ancestry came from the Fertile Crescent, highlighting the mixture between groups at this time.' Adeline Morez Jacobs, visiting research fellow at LJMU, added: 'This finding was quite interesting because we know from archaeology that Egyptian and fertile crescent culture influenced each other for millennia. Farming practices and precious goods were shared and the first writing system emerged almost contemporaneously influenced by each other. 'Piecing together all the clues from this individual's DNA, bones and teeth have allowed us to build a comprehensive picture.'
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Science
- The Guardian
Skeleton found in pot is first ancient Egyptian to undergo whole genome analysis
A man whose bones were shaped by a lifetime of hard labour more than 4,500 years ago has become the first ancient Egyptian to have his entire genetic code read and analysed by scientists. The skeleton of the man, who lived at the dawn of the Age of the Pyramids, was recovered in 1902 from a sealed pottery vessel in a rock-cut tomb in Nuwayrat, 165 miles south of Cairo, and has been held in a museum since. His DNA was remarkably well preserved given its age and the hot climate, which rapidly degrades biological material. Scientists suspect the unusual nature of the burial may have helped the DNA survive the past four millennia. 'It's exciting that we can get genomes from this place and time,' said Pontus Skoglund, who leads the ancient genomics laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London. 'It's only one individual, but it provides a valuable first glimpse into the ancestry of an early Egyptian in the old kingdom.' The skeleton was donated to the Liverpool Institute of Archaeology and later transferred to the city's World Museum. There it survived bombings during the blitz that destroyed almost all of the other human remains in the collection. According to radiocarbon dating, the man lived a few centuries after the unification of upper and lower Egypt, a critical time of transition between the early dynastic period and the Old Kingdom, which spanned the third to the sixth dynasties. The Old Kingdom, also known as the Age of the Pyramids, was marked by significant progress including the construction of the first step pyramid at Saqqara. DNA from one of the man's teeth found he had dark skin, brown eyes and hair, and north African Neolithic ancestry mixed with a 20% genetic contribution from the Fertile Crescent region in the Middle East. The finding supports archaeological evidence of ancient trade between the two regions. The man's bones cast further light on his story. Middle-aged, perhaps in his 60s, he was old for the time and riddled with arthritis. Marks on the skeleton suggest he spent long periods sitting on hard ground with his legs and arms extended and head down. His right foot revealed unusual signs of wear. After studying tomb paintings of ancient Egyptian workers, the researchers suspect he may have been a potter or similar craftsman. The potter's wheel was introduced to Egypt from the Fertile Crescent in about 2,500BC and was often stabilised with one foot. But the high-class burial, which took place before Egypt embraced artificial mummification, would have been unusual for such a worker. Joel Irish, a professor of anthropology and archaeology at Liverpool John Moores University, said of all the occupations the team reviewed, the bone markings were most consistent with the man being a potter, but he might have been weaving baskets or doing other work on the ground. Irish said: 'It's interesting that the man was found in a pot. That in itself is odd. He was put in a relatively high-class tomb and not any old person ends up in a rock-cut tomb. Maybe he was a super-good potter and ended up in someone's favour.' Skoglund said the work, published in Nature, sheds light on which tombs might harbour remains that are well-enough preserved to yield large amounts of DNA. The team now plans to examine more skeletons in British collections to paint a fuller picture of the genetic history of the Egyptians. 'There will be more individuals that we can get DNA from and we can use that to build an ancient, public genetic record of ancient Egypt,' he said.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Ancient DNA shows genetic link between Egypt and Mesopotamia
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ancient DNA has revealed a genetic link between the cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Researchers sequenced whole genomes from the teeth of a remarkably well-preserved skeleton found in a sealed funeral pot in an Egyptian tomb site dating to between 4,495 and 4,880 years ago. Four-fifths of the genome showed links to North Africa and the region around Egypt. But a fifth of the genome showed links to the area in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent, where Mesopotamian civilization flourished. 'The finding is highly significant" because it 'is the first direct evidence of what has been hinted at' in prior work,' said Daniel Antoine, curator of Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. Earlier archeological evidence has shown trade links between Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as similarities in pottery-making techniques and pictorial writing systems. While resemblances in dental structures suggested possible ancestral links, the new study clarifies the genetic ties. The Nile River is 'likely to have acted as an ancient superhighway, facilitating the movement of not only cultures and ideas, but people,' said Antoine, who was not involved in the study. The skeleton was found in an Egyptian tomb complex at the archaeological site of Nuwayrat, inside a chamber carved out from a rocky hillside. An analysis of wear and tear on the skeleton — and the presence of arthritis in specific joints — indicates the man was likely in his 60s and may have worked as a potter, said co-author and bioarchaeologist Joel Irish of Liverpool John Moores University. The man lived just before or near the start of ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified as one state, leading to a period of relative political stability and cultural innovation — including the construction of the Giza pyramids. 'This is the time that centralized power allowed the formation of ancient Egypt as we know it,' said co-author Linus Girdland-Flink, a paleogeneticist at the University of Aberdeen. At approximately the same time, Sumerian city-states took root in Mesopotamia and cuneiform emerged as a writing system. Researchers said analysis of other ancient DNA samples is needed to obtain a clearer picture of the extent and timing of movements between the two cultural centers. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
First complete ancient Egyptian DNA genome reveals his occupation
In 1985, geneticists achieved a major archeological breakthrough after they successfully extracted partial DNA from ancient Egyptian skeletal remains. Almost exactly four decades later, researchers have sequenced the first whole genome from an individual who lived amid the civilization's earliest eras. The findings are detailed in a study published July 2 in the journal Nature. Egyptologists have spent centuries analyzing mountains of archeological materials spanning thousands of years' worth of history. But while experts now know a fair amount about ancient Egyptian life, they still understand very little about the population's genetic makeup. Researchers have genomically analyzed three specimens to date, but in each case, poor DNA preservation resulted in only partial sequences. A tooth stored in museum archives for over a century has changed that, however. Archeologists initially excavated it (and its owner) around 1902 at Nuwayrat, a village roughly 165 miles south of Cairo. Experts couldn't immediately glean much from the body, but radiocarbon dating revealed the individual lived between 2855 and 2570 BCE. This placed him between the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods, a time when rulers oversaw the first pyramid construction projects, but before standardized mummification practices. This lack of mummification likely contributed to the DNA's long-lasting integrity, allowing researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom to finally extract its full genomic information. Their genetic analysis linked 80 percent of his DNA to North Africa, while the remaining 20 percent traces to the Mesopotamian Fertile Crescent near present-day Iraq. It's still unclear if most Egyptians at that time shared a similar ancestry. However, the tooth's dietary chemical signatures indicate the man grew up in Egypt as opposed to migrating there. Further examinations of the overall skeleton also point to a life of hard labor. 'The markings on the skeleton are clues to the individual's life andlifestyle—his seat bones are expanded in size, his arms showed evidence of extensive movement back and forth, and there's substantial arthritis in just the right foot,' explained Liverpool John Moores University archeologist and study second author Joel Irish. Irish and colleagues believe the man likely worked as a potter, with the foot arthritis corresponding to the use of a pottery technology arrived in Egypt around the same time that he was alive. 'That said, his higher-class burial is not expected for a potter, who would not normally receive such treatment,' added Irish. 'Perhaps he was exceptionally skilled or successful [enough] to advance his social status.' Moving forward, the team hopes that their achievement is only the first of many similar DNA sequencing projects. 'Piecing together all the clues from this individual's DNA, bones and teeth have allowed us to build a comprehensive picture,' said study first author Adeline Morez Jacobs. 'We hope that future DNA samples from ancient Egypt can expand on when precisely this movement from West Asia started.'
