Researchers Successfully Deciphered the First Genome from Ancient Egypt

Scientists have, for the first time, sequenced the entire genome of an ancient Egyptian who lived approximately 4,500 to 4,800 years ago.

The feat was achieved by a team of researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and Liverpool John Moores University, who published their findings in Nature. According to the study, the ancient individual’s genetic ancestry traces back to populations in both North Africa and West Asia, shedding light on the genetic diversity of early Egyptians.

Researchers first started trying to extract DNA from ancient Egyptian individuals four decades ago. But poor DNA preservation has presented a major obstacle, and until now, researchers had only partially reconstructed the genomes of just three ancient Egyptians. Now, thanks to technological advances, researchers have successfully pieced together a complete ancient Egyptian genome, using DNA extracted from a tooth.

“Piecing together all the clues from this individual’s DNA, bones and teeth have allowed us to build a comprehensive picture. We hope that future DNA samples from ancient Egypt can expand on when precisely this movement from West Asia started,” study co-author Adeline Morez Jacobs, visiting research fellow and former PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University, said in a statement.

The individual in question died sometime during the 3rd or 4th Dynasties, overlapping the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods of Egyptian history. He was buried in a clay casket in a tomb carved into a hillside in Nuwayrat, a village located 163 miles (263 kilometers) south of Cairo. This era coincided with the construction of the first step pyramid and was marked by technological innovation and political stability.

Because his burial occurred before artificial mummification became common practice, his DNA was better preserved than that of individuals from later in the Old Kingdom, as mummification processes can destroy DNA molecules.

His skeleton was excavated in 1902 and remained at the World Museum Liverpool. The researchers analyzed the individual’s skeleton to estimate his sex, age, height, and lifestyle. The evidence suggests that he worked as a potter or in a similar trade, because his bones showed muscle markings from sitting with outstretched limbs for long periods of time.

Archaeological evidence has long indicated that ancient Egyptians traded and maintained cultural connections with communities in the Fertile Crescent—an area of West Asia that now encompasses several modern Middle Eastern countries. Similar objects, writing, and visual motifs have been discovered in both regions, but genetic evidence to support these connections has been lacking until now.

The researchers found that 80% of the individual’s genetic ancestry traced back to communities who lived in North Africa. The remaining 20% of his ancestry mapped to ancient individuals who lived in Mesopotamia, in what is now the Middle East. The researchers caution, however, that this is just one individual who may not be representative of the ancient Egyptian population as a whole.

“This individual has been on an extraordinary journey. He lived and died during a critical period of change in ancient Egypt, and his skeleton was excavated in 1902 and donated to World Museum Liverpool, where it then survived bombings during the Blitz that destroyed most of the human remains in their collection. We’ve now been able to tell part of the individual’s story,” said co-author Linus Girdland Flink, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen, in a statement.