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.
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, ...
