Researchers from two universities in Liverpool, England, managed sequence the oldest complete genome ever found in the history of humanity. DNA was extracted from an Egyptian skeleton preserved for about 4,500 to 4,800 yearsfound sealed in a large ceramic vase – a protection that allowed it to survive time, climate and even the bombings of the Second World War.
The remains, discovered by British archaeologists in the Nuwayrat necropolis, more than 240 km south of Cairo, remained stored for more than a century in a warehouse in the port city of Liverpool. The DNA, practically intact, was extracted from the individual’s teeth.
According to scientists, the careful way in which the man was buried – typical of rich Egyptians and those belonging to noble castes – contributed to the exceptional preservation of genetic material.
“Forty years have passed since the first attempts to recover DNA from mummies were unsuccessful in sequencing an ancient Egyptian genome,” said Pontus Skoglund, one of the authors of the study published in the journal Nature.
“Ancient Egypt has extraordinary archeology, but the difficult preservation of DNA prevented comparative genetic records. With new techniques, we were able to overcome these barriers and provide genetic evidence of possible population movements during the period”, he adds in an interview with the magazine.
Understand the story behind the oldest Egyptian DNA found
The analysis revealed that the skeleton belonged to an adult man, with signs of tooth wear and osteoarthritis, signs of intense physical work. When investigating the presence of chemical factors in the teeth, related to diet and environment, the researchers found that the individual probably lived most of his life in Egypt.
Skeletal evidence, used to estimate sex, age, height – as well as obtain information about ancestry and way of life – suggest that he may have worked as a potter, ceramist, or in a trade that required similar manual duties. After all, his bones show muscular marks that lead us to believe that the man spent long periods sitting with his limbs extended.
“The marks on the skeleton are clues about the individual’s life and way of life; the ischial bones (of the pelvis) are enlarged, the arms show evidence of extensive ‘back and forth’ movements, and there is considerable arthritis only in the right foot. Although circumstantial, these clues point to work in a pottery, including the use of a potter’s wheel, which arrived in Egypt around the same time”, explains professor of Anthropology and Archeology, Joel Irish, for Liverpool Jonh Moores University.
Furthermore, isotope analyzes in teeth suggest that he grew up in the Nile Valley and followed an omnivorous diet based on wheat, barley and ground proteina pattern known for long periods of Egyptian history.
From a biological point of view, the study estimates brown eyes and hair and dark skin. However, with the authors’ explicit caveat about the limitations of predicting appearance in poorly sampled ancient populations.
Ancestry and migration discovered by world’s oldest Egyptian genetic sequencing
By analyzing his genetic code, the researchers found that the man’s ancestry, for the most part (80%), corresponds to individuals who lived in North Africa. The remaining 20% could be related to ancient people from the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia, where Iraq is today.
This discovery corroborates the genetic evidence already defended by historians that, at that time, people from that region migrated to Egypt and joined the local populations. This migration was previously evidenced only via archaeological artifacts found in Egypt.
However, the researchers emphasize that sequencing this single individual cannot provide a broad understanding of Egyptian ancestries from that period.
“Gathering all the clues from this man’s DNA, bones and teeth allowed us to build a comprehensive picture”, celebrates Adeline Morez Jacobs, another person responsible for genetic sequencing, in an interview with Nature. “We hope that future DNA samples from Ancient Egypt can indicate more precisely when this movement from the Middle East began.”
