Oldest ancient Egyptian human genome reveals ties to Mesopotamia

Scientists have sequenced the oldest and most complete genome from ancient Egypt — and the DNA reveals that a man who lived 5,000 years ago had roots in both Mesopotamia and North Africa, a new study finds.

The man — who lived during the Old Kingdom in the third millennium B.C., just a few centuries after Upper and Lower Egypt unified into one empire — provides researchers with a rare glimpse into the genetic roots of ancient Egyptians.

The individual's body was first recovered from a tomb in Nuwayrat, in Upper Egypt, in 1902 and now reveals new information about the genetic makeup of early Egyptians. Prior to this analysis, only three ancient Egyptian genomes had been sequenced, and all were partial.