{"id":235046,"date":"2025-07-03T15:31:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T15:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235046\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T15:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T15:31:16","slug":"ancient-dna-shows-genetic-link-between-mesopotamia-and-egypt-researchers-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235046\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient DNA shows genetic link between Mesopotamia and Egypt, researchers find"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Ancient DNA has revealed a genetic link between the cultures of\u00a0ancient Egypt\u00a0and\u00a0Mesopotamia, according to research published Wednesday in\u00a0the journal Nature<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Adapting to extreme habitats set the stage for global human migration, study finds<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe finding is highly significant\u201d because it \u201cis the first direct evidence of what has been hinted at\u201d in prior work,\u201d said Daniel Antoine, curator of Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Nile River is \u201clikely to have acted as an ancient superhighway, facilitating the movement of not only cultures and ideas, but people,\u201d said Antoine, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 and the presence of arthritis in specific joints \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

The man lived just before or near the start of ancient Egypt\u2019s Old Kingdom, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified as one state, leading to a period of relative political stability and cultural innovation \u2014 including the construction of the Giza pyramids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the time that centralized power allowed the formation of ancient Egypt as we know it,\u201d said co-author Linus Girdland-Flink, a paleogeneticist at the University of Aberdeen.<\/p>\n

At approximately the same time, Sumerian city-states took root in Mesopotamia and cuneiform emerged as a writing system.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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