Science, from a tooth the genome of a potter: the oldest DNA in Egypt sequenced

Who would have thought that a man who lived at the time of the first pyramids could come back to tell us his story thanks to science? And yet it really happened: for the first time , the complete DNA of an ancient Egyptian, dating back over 4,500 years, has been extracted and sequenced, in what is a true scientific feat and… a journey through time. The incredible discovery was published in the prestigious journal Nature, by an international team led by Liverpool John Moores University and the Francis Crick Institute in London . And it marks a long-sought goal since the first pioneering experiments by Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo. The man who lived between 2855 and 2570 BC, during the Old Kingdom of Egypt (that of the first step pyramid, so to speak), was discovered in 1902 in N\Here is the first curiosity: he was buried inside a large ceramic vase, an unusual burial that suggests a high social status. But his bones tell another story: the marks left on the skeleton indicate a life of physical work, probably as a potter. A craftsman? An artist? Or a worker who, over time, had managed to improve his position? Thanks to sophisticated extraction and genetic analysis techniques , researchers were able to isolate DNA from a tooth of the individual, obtaining for the first time a complete genome of Ancient Egypt. And there was no shortage of surprises. This man, who died between the ages of 44 and 64— a remarkable longevity for the time —had 80% North African origins and the remaining 20% ​​linked to Mesopotamia, that is, modern-day Iraq. This genetic detail tells us about the movement of people, trade and cultural exchanges along the Nile and across the Fertile Crescent, confirming what historians had only hypothesized. “We finally have direct genetic evidence of links between North Africa and the Near East in the third millennium BC,” says Pontus Skoglund, one of the research coordinators. Comparing the ancient Egyptian genome with that of more than 3,200 modern and 800 ancient individuals, scientists have detected surprising affinities with populations of the North African Neolithic, and links with the agricultural populations of the Fertile Crescent, from where one of the first great models of civilization spread. The result? A genetic mosaic that perfectly reflects Egypt's position as a crossroads between Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean.

But be careful: this is a single case , and therefore it is not yet possible to generalise. But this first “genetic voice” of Ancient Egypt could open the way to new studies and sequencing. Adeline Morez Jacobs , first author of the study, now at the University of Padua, also underlines this: “This is only the beginning of a broader investigation into the DNA of ancient Egyptians”.

A potter who lived in the time of the pharaohs speaks to us today thanks to genetics. He tells us about travel, work, daily life and cultural mixes. A small but significant story that combines archaeology and modern science, and reminds us that the past is much closer than it seems.