
The first genome data from ancient Egyptian mummies - vixen99
https://www.mpg.de/11317890/genome-ancient-egyptian-mummies
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salimmadjd
The article claims ancient Egyptians are more similar to people of Near East.
" _The study found that modern Egyptians share more ancestry with Sub-Saharan
Africans than ancient Egyptians did, whereas ancient Egyptians were found to
be most closely related to ancient people from the Near East_ "

However, there is not enough sample data to make a universal assertion. What
if Egyptian Pharos were a bit like European royalties, where the Austrian
princess would marry the ruler of France or German royalty would marry the
Russian Tzar. And these mummified people were prince or princes from Near East
empires marrying into Egyptian royalty to forge political bonds?

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gadders
You'd expect the Ptolemaic Pharaohs to be Greek/Turkish, I'd have thought. Not
that this covers the whole time range examined.

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cgio
No Turks in the region at that point in history. Turks are related to Mongols.

~~~
danieltillett
Most Turks are decended from the original people of Turkey - a bit like
Hungary where it is very hard to find any central asian genetic contribution
in the modern Hungarian population. Genes != culture.

~~~
hasenj
Are you saying that modern Turks in Turkey are just Greeks that converted to
Islam?

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nurettin
Although culturally Turks prefer the middle asia hun and monolian origin
narrative, they are genetically mostly descendants of the anatolians who
happened to live and breed there already for many millenia. Those people
didn't suddenly disappear. This contrast between culture and genetics is
confusing to many turks (me included)

~~~
hasenj
That's what I think happened to other countries in the region as well. I'm
from Iraq and speak Arabic but I don't think my ancestors are from the
"Arabian peninsula", we just adopted the language. It also explains why
"dialects" of Arabic can be so different.

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panglott
Interesting. The Afroasiatic languages are attested from long enough ago that
the date of their divergence can be estimated at ca. 10,000 BCE or earlier,
orginating probably somewhere around the Red Sea.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afroasiatic_languages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afroasiatic_languages)

Sub-Saharan Africa was marked by the Bantu expansion some time later, with
Niger-Congo-speaking peoples expanding out of West Africa between about 3,000
BCE to 500 CE. This at best just takes Bantu speakers to the very peripheries
of the Egyptian sphere, the modern slave trade and maritime trade with East
Africa are probably likelier causes.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_expansion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_expansion)

~~~
JPLeRouzic
I think you may allude to some connection between Bantu people and Egypt. It
is difficult to interpret ancient Sub-Saharan Africa in our modern terms.
Basically there were four broad areas that were populated at that time, the
western Africa (Mande/Sao), the Niger basin(Nigeria/Cameroon inhabited since
120,000 years and place of a wonderful civilization: Nok), the Chad area
(remnant of a mega lake, also inhabited since the humide Sahara period) and
the Nile area (from Middle east up to Ethiopia).

It was possible to travel from the Victoria lake to the Mediterranean sea (and
vise versa). At the same time there were hydrological connections between the
Chad basin and the great Lakes and between the great lakes and the Congo
basin. And from the Chad area to the Niger area.

From the Jos plateau (cradle of Nok culture) it is possible to reach Lake Chad
via the Komadugu River.

It is also possible to travel to Cameroon and near Chad Lake, via the Benue
River, which is a tributary of the Niger. From the Benue River, it is possible
to reach the Logone which flows north towards the lake in Chad.

From Chad Lake it is possible to take the Chari River towards the Congo River.
A recent study was published about the Congo basin, describing it as a massive
swamp 4,000 years ago.

The rivers of Dja and Kadei are born in Cameroon and head south-east to throw
themselves into the Sangha river, which is a tributary of the Congo River.

The Uele River has its source close to the White Nile and Lake Albert.

My points are:

1) That people could move at that time on very large distance via boats.

2) That there were already beautiful civilizations in the Niger basin at that
time.

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johnlbevan2
For those who'd not come across the term "Near East" before, it's the same as
the "Middle East".

Ref: [https://www.britannica.com/demystified/are-the-middle-
east-a...](https://www.britannica.com/demystified/are-the-middle-east-and-the-
near-east-the-same-thing)

~~~
slitaz
I believe the authors use the term Near East to describe the parts of present-
day Turkey, Syria and nearby regions.

Middle-East is too broad to have usefulness in the article.

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nivertech
_" from the archaeological site of Abusir el-Meleq, along the Nile River in
Middle Egypt"_

If they are from Lower Egypt that might be "Asiatics" Hyksos dynasty. From the
map Abusir el-Meleq seems to be much closer to Lower (i.e. Northern part of)
Egypt.

~~~
owlmirror
Unlikely. The first sample is from around 1400 BCE. The last king of the
Hyksos dynasty was expelled 1550 BCE. Their samples go to 400 CE. They did
conclude a continuity of the population for the whole time. If these were
really foreigners the must have came in at a steady stream for over 1300
years, with no local intermixing.

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hs44
I wonder how it would have gone, if they started with the dynasty called
Khufu.

