Latest news with #OldKingdom
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
First Human Genome from Ancient Egypt Sequenced from 4,800-Year-Old Teeth
Teeth from an elderly man who lived around the time that the earliest pyramids were built have yielded the first full human genome sequence from ancient Egypt. The remains are 4,800 to 4,500 years old, overlapping with a period in Egyptian history known as the Old Kingdom or the Age of Pyramids. They harbour signs of ancestry similar to that of other ancient North Africans, as well as of people from the Middle East, researchers report today in Nature. 'It's incredibly exciting and important,' says David Reich, a population geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the study. 'We always hoped we would get our first ancient DNA from mummies.' [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] Numerous labs have tried to extract DNA from ancient Egyptian remains. In 1985, evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääbo reported the first ancient DNA sequences from any human: several thousand DNA letters from a 2,400-year-old Egyptian mummy of a child. But Pääbo, who won a Nobel prize in 2022 for other work, later realized that the sequences were contaminated with modern DNA — possibly his own. A 2017 study generated limited genome data from three Egyptian mummies that lived between 3,600 and 2,000 years ago. The hot North African climate speeds up the breakdown of DNA, and the mummification process might also accelerate it, said Pontus Skoglund, a palaeogeneticist at the Francis Crick Institute in London who co-led the Nature study, at a press briefing. 'Mummified individuals are probably not a great way to preserve DNA.' The remains that Skoglund's team sequenced pre-date widespread mummification: the person was interred instead in a ceramic pot, a sign of high, but not elite, status. The remains were found at an archaeological site called Nuwayrat, 265 kilometres south of Cairo along the Nile river. The teeth and bones were discovered in 1902, when Egypt was under British colonial rule. They were donated to institutions in Liverpool, UK, where they have been ever since, even surviving German bombing during the Second World War. Skoglund says his expectations were low when his team extracted DNA from several teeth from the Nuwayrat individual. But two samples contained enough authentic ancient DNA to generate a full genome sequence. Y-chromosome sequences indicated that the remains belonged to a male. The majority of his DNA resembled that of early farmers from the Neolithic period of North Africa around 6,000 years ago. The rest most closely matched people in Mesopotamia, a historical Middle Eastern region that was home to the ancient Sumerian civilization, and was where some of the first writing systems emerged. It's not clear whether this implies a genetic direct link between members of Mesopotamian cultures and people in ancient Egypt — also hinted at by similarities in some cultural artefacts — or whether the man's Mesopotamian ancestry arrived through other unsampled populations, the researchers say. The rest of the ancient Egyptian man's bones revealed more details about his life. Evidence of arthritis and osteoporosis suggest he died at an advanced age for the time, possibly in his sixties. Other signs of wear indicate a life of physical toil, sitting hunched over on hard surfaces. On the basis of this and imagery from other tombs from this period, he might have been a potter, said co-author Joel Irish, a bioarchaeologist at Liverpool John Moores University, at the press briefing. 'The publication of a whole-genome data set of an ancient Egyptian constitutes a significant achievement in the field of molecular Egyptology,' says Yehia Gad, a geneticist at Egypt's National Research Centre in Cairo, who praises the researchers for presenting the provenance of the remains clearly. But he points out that the genome is from one individual and might not fully represent ancient Egypt's gene pool, which was probably a melting pot of different ancestries. For this reason, researchers are eager for more ancient Egyptian genome data — perhaps even from a mummy. Advances in ancient-genomics technology and local capacity — Gad supervises an ancient DNA lab at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo — means it hopefully won't take another 40 years. This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on July 2, 2025.
The Guardian
a day 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
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Ancient Egyptian man's genome reveals his society's cross-cultural ties
By Will Dunham (Reuters) -DNA obtained from the remains of a man who lived in ancient Egypt around the time the first pyramids were built is providing evidence of the ties between two great cultures of the period, with a fifth of his genetic ancestry traced to Mesopotamia. 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% of his ancestry traced to Egypt or adjacent parts of North Africa. But about 20% of his ancestry was traced to a region of the ancient Near East called the Fertile Crescent that included Mesopotamia. "This suggests substantial genetic connections between ancient Egypt and the eastern Fertile Crescent," said population geneticist Adeline Morez Jacobs of Liverpool John Moores University in England and the Francis Crick Institute in London, lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. 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% 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," Francis Crick Institute population geneticist and 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," Skoglund added. 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."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists just sequenced the oldest and most complete ancient Egyptian human genome ever
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Scientists have sequenced the oldest and most complete genome from ancient Egypt — and the DNA reveals that a man who lived 5,000 years ago had roots in both Mesopotamia and North Africa, a new study finds. The man — who lived during the Old Kingdom in the third millennium B.C., just a few centuries after Upper and Lower Egypt unified into one empire — provides researchers with a rare glimpse into the genetic roots of ancient Egyptians. The individual's body was first recovered from a tomb in Nuwayrat, 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 had been sequenced, and all were partial. "I was very surprised" by the success of the sequencing, study co-author Pontus Skoglund, who studies ancient DNA at The Francis Crick Institute in the U.K., said at a news conference Tuesday (July 1), before the paper's publication. "It was a long shot that it would work, as it is with many of these individuals." Radiocarbon dating found that the man had lived around 2855 to 2570 B.C., during the Old Kingdom, a period known for its stability, innovation, and the construction of the step pyramid and the Great Pyramid of Giza, according to a statement. He was buried in a ceramic pot within a rock-cut tomb and was preserved well enough that two DNA extracts from the roots of his teeth could be sequenced. Researchers compared his genome against a library of thousands of known DNA samples. Eventually, they found that most of the man's genome could be traced to North African Neolithic ancestry, according to the study, which was published in the journal Nature Wednesday (July 2). About 20% of his DNA was linked to the eastern Fertile Crescent, including ancient Mesopotamia and its neighboring regions. Image 1 of 3 The facial reconstruction of the Egyptian man whose genome can be traced to ancient Mesopotamia. Image 2 of 3 Remains were buried in a pottery coffin in Nuwayrat, in Upper Egypt, in 1902. Image 3 of 3 Scientists analyzed the genome of an ancient individual found in Nuwayrat (red dot), about 165 miles (265 kilometers) south of Cairo. It's rare to find preserved human DNA from ancient Egypt, but another individual's DNA from Abusir el-Meleq (purple diamond) from the Third Intermediate Period (circa 1070 to 713 B.C.) was previously sequenced. This body was uniquely well preserved compared with those of other ancient Egyptians, which often degrade due to the high temperatures of the region. "The pot burial, in combination with the rock-cut tomb into which the pot burial was placed, provided a stable environment" that likely helped preserve the DNA, study co-author Linus Girdland-Flink, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen in the U.K., explained at the news conference. Related: Why are so many ancient Egyptians buried at the Saqqara necropolis? The man's remains provide clues about his life in ancient Egypt nearly 5,000 years ago. He lived to between 44 and 64 years old, which would have been considered an advanced age for his time. The high degree of osteoporosis and arthritis suggests he was on the higher end of that age bracket, study co-author Joel Irish, a bioarchaeologist at Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K., said at the conference. The man's ceramic-pot burial and rock tomb point to an elevated social status, which contrasts with the many signs of hard physical labor on his remains. Irish found evidence that the man had held his hands out and sat for extended periods of time — a clue that he may have been a potter. Because most of the man's genetic ancestry is linked to North Africa, it's likely that "at least part of the Egyptian population mainly emerged from local population," study first author Adeline Morez Jacobs, a biological anthropologist at the University of Padua in Italy, said at the conference. RELATED STORIES —Huge cemetery with at least 250 rock-cut tombs discovered in Egypt —3,300-year-old ancient Egyptian tombs and chapel with 'amazing' decorations unearthed at Saqqara —Long-lost branch of the Nile was 'indispensable for building the pyramids,' research shows More notably, the link to Mesopotamia "was quite interesting because we actually know from archaeology that the Egyptian and the eastern Fertile Crescent cultures influenced each other for millennia," she said. It was already known that the groups shared goods, domesticated plants and animals, writing systems and farming practices, but this genome is evidence that the populations intermixed more deeply. However, Morez Jacobs cautioned that this man's DNA may not represent the broader Egyptian population of his time. "We need to remember, this is a single individual," she said. "We didn't capture the full diversity of the population."
The Guardian
2 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.
