Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Ancient Egyptian Genes

From The Daily Caller:
It’s further evidence that ancient Egyptians were genetically different than modern day residents. Scientists largely agree that ancient Egyptians were indigenous to the Nile area, but a vocal minority of “Afrocentric” scholars claim that the area’s ancient population was entirely African.

Those scholars claim ancient Egyptians were similar to Sub-Saharan African cultures, arguing that famous Egyptian rulers, including Tutankhamun and Cleopatra, were more African than Caucasian. Researchers analyzed ancient DNA from mummified Egyptians who lived from 1400 B.C. to 400 A.D., establishing that mummies can be a reliable source for genetic material to study the ancient past.

The study could open the door to further genetic testing of mummified remains. More than 151 individual mummies were examined during the research. Scientists recovered mitochondrial genomes from 90 individuals and genome-wide data sets from three individuals. (Read more.)
Share

No comments: