Black or White? Ancient Egyptian Race Mystery Now Solved

A study describes how scientists conducted the first successful DNA sequencing on old Egyptian mummies.

Egyptologists, writers, scholars, and others, have suggested the race of the ancient Egyptians since at least the 1970s. Some today think they were sub-Saharan Africans. We can observe this interpretation portrayed in Michael Jackson’s 1991 music video for Remember the Time from his Dangerous album. The video, a ten-minute mini-film, involves performances by Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson.

Scientists, meanwhile, say that there’s never been any significant black civilizations– an utter falsehood, of course. There were several, in fact, highly improved African empires and also kingdoms throughout history. Curiously, some extreme Right teams have also used blood group information to proclaim a Nordic origin to King Tutankhamun and also his brethren.

The issue, it was thought, is that mummy DNA could not be sequenced. But a group of international researchers, utilizing unique methods, have overcome the barriers to do simply that. They discovered that the old Egyptians were most closely related to the peoples of the Near East, particularly from the Levant. This is the Eastern Mediterranean, which today involves the countries of Turkey, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. The mummies utilized were from the New Kingdom and a later duration (a duration later than the Middle Kingdom) when Egypt was under Roman rule.

It was even thought that, even if genetic products were recovered, it might not be reliable. Despite this, Krause and colleagues have been able to introduce robust DNA sequencing and verification methods and completed the 1st successful genomic testing on old Egyptian mummies.

Each came from Abusir el-Meleq, an archaeological site situated along the Nile, seventy miles (115 kilometers) south of Cairo. This necropolis there houses mummies that display aspects revealing a dedication to the cult of Osiris, the green-skinned god of the immortality.

First, the mitochondrial genomes from ninety of mummies were taken. From these, Krause and colleagues discovered that they could get the whole genomes from simply three of the mummies in all. Scientists took teeth, bone, and also soft tissue samples for this study. The teeth and bones provided the most DNA. They were protected by the soft cells that has been preserved through the embalming process.

Scientists took these samples back to a lab in Germany. They began by sterilizing the room. Then they put the examples under UV radiation for an hour to sterilize them. From there, they were capable to perform DNA sequencing.

Scientists also gathered information on Egyptian history and archaeological information of northern Africa to give their discoveries some context. They wanted to know what changes had happened over time. To find out, they compared mummies’ genomes to that of 100 modern Egyptians and also 125 Ethiopians. “For 1,300 yrs, we observe complete genetic continuity,” Krause stated.

The oldest mummy sequenced was from the New Kingdom, 1,388 BCE, when Egypt was at the height of its energy and glory. The youngest was from 426 CE when the nation was ruled from Rome. The capability to acquire genomic information on old Egyptians is a dramatic achievement that opens up recent avenues of research.

One limit according to their report, “all our genetic information were obtained from a single site in Center Egypt and might not be representative for all of old Egypt.” In southern Egypt, they state, the genetic makeup of the people may have been different, being closer to the continent’s interior

Scientists in future want to determine exactly when sub-Saharan African genes seeped into the Egyptian genome and why. They will also want to know where old Egyptians themselves came from. To do so, they will have to identify older DNA from, as Krause said, “Back further in time, in prehistory.”

Using high-throughput DNA sequencing and advanced authentication techniques, scientists proved they would retrieve reliable DNA from mummies, despite the unforgiving climate and also damaging embalming methods.

Further testing will probably contribute much knowledge to our understanding of the old Egyptians and perhaps even those from other places as well, assisting to fill in the gaps in humanity’s collective memory.

Read the original article on BIG Think.