German researchers from the Max Planck Institute and the University of Tübingen managed to partially reconstruct the genome of nine dozen Egyptian mummies, which are about 3500-1500 years old. After conducting the analysis, the scientists came to the conclusion that the ancient Egyptians were not at all from Africa. Some of them were Turks, and some of them came from that part of southern Europe, in which Syria, Abkhazia, Jordan, Georgia, Israel and Lebanon are currently located.
Some time ago this kind of research was already carried out. They were initiated by biologists from the Zurich genealogical center iGENEA. However, scientists analyzed the genetic material extracted from only one mummy - however, it was the mummy of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The pharaoh's DNA was obtained from bone tissue - more precisely, from the left leg and left shoulder.
The specialists of the center carried out a comparative analysis of the genome of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh and the inhabitants of modern Europe. As a result, it was found that many of today's Europeans are relatives of Tutankhamun. More precisely, almost half of European men have DNA matches. Moreover, in some countries, notably France, Spain and the UK, the percentage of matches is 60-70 percent.
DNA comparison was carried out according to haplogroups - certain sets of DNA fragments that are transmitted practically unchanged from generation to generation. The relatives of the pharaoh, as it turned out, belonged to the same haplogroup - R1b1a2.
As the researchers note, this haplogroup, which is so widespread among the male population of modern Europe, is extremely rare among the Egyptians. Among the Egyptians, the share of its speakers is about one percent.
As noted by the director of the iGENEA center Roman Scholz, scientists were very interested in the fact that genetically Tutankhamun turned out to be a European.
After carrying out genetic studies by German and Swiss scientists, it was once again confirmed that the modern population of Egypt, for the most part, is not the degraded descendants of the pharaohs. They have practically nothing in common with their ancient rulers. And this, in turn, explains to a certain extent the peculiarities of Egyptian society.
And the pharaohs came from completely different countries.
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So, according to Scholz, the common ancestor of both Europeans and Egyptian pharaohs lived about 9500 years ago in the Caucasus. About seven thousand years ago, his descendants gradually settled throughout Europe. Someone managed to get to Egypt and break out into rulers. Thus, it turns out that the ancestors of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, just like himself, were representatives of the Caucasian nationality.
As noted by a paleogeneticist from the University of Tübingen, German researchers managed to completely recreate the genome of three mummies out of one and a half hundred. The DNA of these three mummies has survived reasonably well, despite the harsh conditions of the hot Egyptian climate, the chemicals used in the embalming process, and the high humidity in the places where these mummies were buried.
Scientists hope that genome restoration, even in the distant future, will help them restore the owner of this genome through cloning. This, by the way, would have fully satisfied the ancient Egyptians, who really wanted to rise from the dead. As a matter of fact, it was for this that they became mummies, as if they knew that in the distant future their remains would be useful to scientists.