The First-Ever Whole Genome of an Ancient Egyptian Reveals What Life Was Like 4,800 Years Ago
Learn about the first whole genome from Ancient Egypt, which has shed light on the life and ancestry of a potter who lived during a period of great change.
By Jack Knudson
Jul 18, 2025 5:00 PMJul 18, 2025 5:06 PM
Egyptian pottery
(Image Credit: SRStudio/Shutterstock)
What was it like to live in ancient Egypt during an era of sweeping change? Although we can’t put ourselves in the shoes of ancient Egyptians, we at least know how one of them may have lived now that a whole genome from ancient Egypt has been sequenced for the first time.
A study recently published in Nature details the groundbreaking genetic advancement, and it’s all thanks to one man who lived around 4,500 to 4,800 years ago, when Egypt was in the midst of a transition from the Early Dynastic Period to the Old Kingdom. The genome of this unnamed individual — who worked a strenuous job as a potter — has singlehandedly granted researchers a broader perspective on ancient Egyptian identity.
Unraveling Ancient Egyptian DNA
It’s not exactly under wraps that ancient Egypt has been a cherished subject of research for centuries. Mummies have particularly enthralled researchers, including evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääbo, well known in the scientific community for his work on the Neanderthal genome.
In fact, mummies were Pääbo’s ticket into the field of evolutionary genetics forty years ago, when he recovered DNA from mummy specimens that were around 2,000 years old. Fast forward to today, and DNA technology has vastly improved, allowing researchers to obtain the first whole genome from ancient Egypt.
According to a press statement on the new study, the researchers sequenced this genome from DNA that they extracted from the tooth of a man buried in Nuwayrat, a village 265 km (about 165 miles) south of Cairo. He was buried in a hillside tomb before mummification was standard practice. This may have actually helped preserve his DNA, as chemicals used in mummification, like sodium carbonate, degrade DNA.
More:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/the-first-ever-whole-genome-of-an-ancient-egyptian-reveals-what-life-was