Ancient Egyptian mummy genomes suggest an increase of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in post-Roman periods

Verena J. Schuenemann, Alexander Peltzer, Beatrix Welte, W. Paul van Pelt, Martyna Molak, Chuan-Chao Wang, Anja Furtwängler, Christian Urban, Ella Reiter, Kay Nieselt, Barbara Teßmann, Michael Francken, Katerina Harvati, Wolfgang Haak (), Stephan Schiffels () and Johannes Krause ()
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Verena J. Schuenemann: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Alexander Peltzer: Integrative Transcriptomics, Center for Bioinformatics, University of Tübingen
Beatrix Welte: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
W. Paul van Pelt: University of Cambridge
Martyna Molak: Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Chuan-Chao Wang: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Anja Furtwängler: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Christian Urban: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Ella Reiter: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Kay Nieselt: Integrative Transcriptomics, Center for Bioinformatics, University of Tübingen
Barbara Teßmann: Berlin Society of Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory
Michael Francken: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Katerina Harvati: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen
Wolfgang Haak: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Stephan Schiffels: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Johannes Krause: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract 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 present 90 mitochondrial genomes as well as genome-wide data sets from three individuals obtained from Egyptian mummies. The samples recovered from Middle Egypt span around 1,300 years of ancient Egyptian history from the New Kingdom to the Roman Period. Our analyses reveal that ancient Egyptians shared more ancestry with Near Easterners 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.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15694

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