by The first complete DNA study of an old Egyptian showed that he was probably a famous potter who received a strangely luxurious funeral.
The skeleton of a middle -aged man, who lived 4,500 and 4,800 years ago, was cut into a ceramic pot in a grave in a grave in Nuwayrat, about 165 miles south of Cairo.
He lived during the fourth dynasty, an important time when the first and largest pyramids were built during the reign of pharaohs such as Khufu and Khafre.
So far, it was difficult to sequence the DNA in old Egyptians because the mumification process destroys the sensitive molecule. However, the man’s funeral took place before the mummification in Egypt became a standard practice and his body was instead preserved by the warm and dry conditions of the desert.
This made it possible to extract British experts from the Francis Crick Institute and the Liverpool John Moores University to extract DNA from a tooth root.
The remains showed serious signs of arthritis and suggested that he had been sitting on a hard surface for many years with arms and legs stretched out and his head overridden.
Joel Irish, professor of dental anthropology and archeology at the Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), said: “Although this indications indicate the pottery, including the use of a pottery wheel that arrived in Egypt at about the same time.
“This means that his funeral with a higher class is not to be expected for a potter who would normally not receive such treatment.
“He was in a funeral of the upper class. Someone went to all the work to put him in a basic grave, and he was in this large pottery vessel. This contradicts the fact that he had an incredibly hard physical life.
“Maybe he was exceptionally clever or successful enough to drive his social status forward.”
The man’s DNA showed that the majority of his ancestors came from North Africa, but around 20 percent were with old individuals from the fertile crescent moon, a area of West Asia, which includes modern countries such as Iraq, Iran and Jordan.
While archaeological evidence has shown that there are commercial and cultural connections between Egypt and the fertile crescent moon, this is the first proof that the populations were also accumulated.
The researchers speculated that the man may have been one of the first to use a ceramic wheel that was invented in Mesopotamia and then brought to Egypt by the fourth dynasty. Before these pots were produced using the coiled method, it is possible that his high status was associated with its ability to use the new technology in death.
His skeleton was excavated in 1902 and donated to the Liverpool World Museum, where it later survived bomb attacks during lightning, which destroyed most of the museum’s human remains.
‘Unusual’
Linus Girdland Flink, a lecturer in old biomolecules at the University of Aberdeen and guest researcher at the LJMU, said: “This person was on an extraordinary journey. He lived and died during a critical period of changes in ancient Egypt.
“We were now able to tell part of the history of the individual and found that some of his ancestors came from the fertile crescent moon and emphasized the mix between the groups at that time.”
Adeline Morez Jacobs, which Research Fellow attended at LJMU, added: “This knowledge was very interesting because we know from archeology that the Egyptian and fruitful crescent culture influenced each other for millennia. Agriculture practices and precious goods were shared, and the first writing system was created almost simultaneously.
“All information from the DNA, bones and teeth of this individual have enabled us to create a comprehensive picture.”
Research was published in the Nature magazine.
