Angela
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All we have so far is the abstract, but the paper will be out shortly.
Ancient Egyptian Mummy Genomes Suggest an Increase of Sub-Saharan African Ancestry in Post-Roman Periods
Krause et al.
Egypt, located on the isthmus of Africa, is an ideal region to study historical population dynamics due to its geographic location and documented interactions with ancient civilizations in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Particularly, in the first millennium BCE Egypt endured foreign domination leading to growing numbers of foreigners living within its borders possibly contributing genetically to the local population. Here we mtDNA and nuclear DNA from mummified humans recovered from Middle Egypt that span around 1,300 years of ancient Egyptian history from the Third Intermediate to the Roman Period. Our analyses reveal that ancient Egyptians shared more Near Eastern ancestry than present-day Egyptians, who received additional Sub-Saharan admixture in more recent times. This analysis establishes ancient Egyptian mummies as a genetic source to study ancient human history and offers the perspective of deciphering Egypt’s past at a genome-wide level.
So, I guess the "ancient mummies are from around 1300 BC to the Common Era.
If the paper proves what is in the abstract, I don't see anything too surprising here. Egypt experience an influx of farmers from the Middle East, and then in this period they're discussing you have a new influx with the Hyksos, and other historically attested movements like the Sea Peoples. To that would be added the large numbers of Greeks who made their home especially in the Delta area around their city of Alexandria.
I think a lot of people have speculated that the the Arab slave trade would have brought more SSA into Egypt, perhaps showing up in a hierarchical order, with more of it in the lower classes. Unlike many people I'm not so sure it was all West African. They also imported a lot of women slaves from East Africa from what I remember.
I hope they rather quickly publish anything they have on Old Dynasty Egypt and we can see what it was like at that time. I have a hunch it was more SSA. We have SSA yDna in Pharoahs, and the Nubian dynasty as well.
I wonder if Copts will be the closest to the first millennium BC Egyptians?
Ancient Egyptian Mummy Genomes Suggest an Increase of Sub-Saharan African Ancestry in Post-Roman Periods
Krause et al.
Egypt, located on the isthmus of Africa, is an ideal region to study historical population dynamics due to its geographic location and documented interactions with ancient civilizations in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Particularly, in the first millennium BCE Egypt endured foreign domination leading to growing numbers of foreigners living within its borders possibly contributing genetically to the local population. Here we mtDNA and nuclear DNA from mummified humans recovered from Middle Egypt that span around 1,300 years of ancient Egyptian history from the Third Intermediate to the Roman Period. Our analyses reveal that ancient Egyptians shared more Near Eastern ancestry than present-day Egyptians, who received additional Sub-Saharan admixture in more recent times. This analysis establishes ancient Egyptian mummies as a genetic source to study ancient human history and offers the perspective of deciphering Egypt’s past at a genome-wide level.
So, I guess the "ancient mummies are from around 1300 BC to the Common Era.
If the paper proves what is in the abstract, I don't see anything too surprising here. Egypt experience an influx of farmers from the Middle East, and then in this period they're discussing you have a new influx with the Hyksos, and other historically attested movements like the Sea Peoples. To that would be added the large numbers of Greeks who made their home especially in the Delta area around their city of Alexandria.
I think a lot of people have speculated that the the Arab slave trade would have brought more SSA into Egypt, perhaps showing up in a hierarchical order, with more of it in the lower classes. Unlike many people I'm not so sure it was all West African. They also imported a lot of women slaves from East Africa from what I remember.
I hope they rather quickly publish anything they have on Old Dynasty Egypt and we can see what it was like at that time. I have a hunch it was more SSA. We have SSA yDna in Pharoahs, and the Nubian dynasty as well.
I wonder if Copts will be the closest to the first millennium BC Egyptians?