The genetic history of Egypt's demographics reflects its geographical location at the
crossroads of several major biocultural areas:
North Africa, the Sahara, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ancient DNA Contamination from handling and
intrusion from microbes create obstacles to the recovery of ancient DNA. Consequently, most DNA
studies have been carried out on modern Egyptian populations with the intent of learning about
the influences of historical migrations on the population of Egypt. A study published in 1993 was
performed on ancient mummies of the 12th Dynasty, which identified multiple lines of descent.
2017 DNA study A study published in
2017 by an international team of scientists led by researchers from the University of
Tuebingen and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena described the
extraction and analysis of DNA from 151 mummified ancient Egyptian individuals, whose remains were
recovered from Abusir el-Meleq in Middle Egypt. Obtaining well-preserved, uncontaminated DNA
from mummies has been a problem for the field of archaeogenetics and these samples provided
"the first reliable data set obtained from ancient Egyptians using high-throughput
DNA sequencing methods". The specimens were living in a period stretching from the late New Kingdom
to the Roman era . Complete mitochondrial DNA sequences were obtained for 90 of the mummies and
were compared with each other and with several other ancient and modern datasets. 83 of the
mummies were individuals who lived in dynasties later than the 21st dynasty. The oldest mummy,
sample JK2887 is dated to 1388-1311 B.C.of the New Kingdom period. The scientists found that the
ancient Egyptian individuals in their own dataset possessed highly similar mitochondrial profiles
throughout the examined period. Modern Egyptians generally shared this maternal haplogroup pattern,
but also carried more Sub-Saharan North and East African clades. A wide range
of mtDNA haplogroups were found including clades of J,U,H,HV,M,R0,R2,K,T,L,I,N,X,W.
However, analysis of the mummies' mtDNA haplogroups found that they shared greater
mitochondrial affinities with genetic relatives of Neolithic and Bronze Age populations from the Near
East, Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean Europeans compared to modern Egyptians.
Additionally, three of the ancient Egyptian mummified individuals were analysed for Y-DNA,
two were assigned to West Asian J and one to haplogroup E1b1b1 both common in North Africa.
The researchers cautioned that the affinities of the examined ancient Egyptian specimens may not be
representative of those of all ancient Egyptians since they were from a single archaeological site.
The study was able to measure the mitochondrial DNA of 90 individuals, and it showed that the
mitochondrial DNA composition of Egyptian mummies has shown a high level of affinity with the DNA
found in the Near East, Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean Europeans.
A shared drift and mixture analysis of the DNA of these ancient Egyptian mummies shows that
the connection is strongest with ancient populations of North, East and Sub Saharan
Africans and to a lesser extent populations from the South Africa and Middle East.
In particular the study finds "that ancient Egyptians are most closely related to Neolithic
and Bronze Age samples in the Levant, as well as to Neolithic African and Cushitic populations".
However, the study showed that comparative data from a contemporary population under Roman rule
in Africa, did reveal a closer relationship to the ancient Egyptians from the same period.
furthermore, "Genetic continuity between ancient and modern Egyptians cannot be ruled out despite
this sub-Saharan African influx, while continuity with modern Ethiopians is not supported".
Genome-wide data could only be successfully extracted from three of these individuals.
Of these three, the Y-chromosome haplogroups of two individuals could be assigned to J and one to
haplogroup E1b1b1 both common in North Africa. The absolute estimates of sub-Saharan African ancestry
in these three individuals ranged from 6 to 15%, which is significantly lower than the level of
sub-Saharan African ancestry in the modern Egyptians from Abusir, who "range from 14 to 21%."
The study's authors cautioned that the mummies may be unrepresentative of the Ancient Egyptian
population as a whole, since they were recovered from the northern part of Egypt.
Verena Schuenemann and the authors of this study suggest a high level
of genetic interaction with the Near East since ancient times, probably going
back to Prehistoric Egypt although the oldest mummies at the site were from the New Kingdom:
"Our data seem to indicate close admixture and affinity at a much earlier date,
which is unsurprising given the long and complex connections between Egypt and the Middle East.
These connections date back to Prehistory and occurred at a variety of scales,
including overland and maritime commerce, diplomacy, immigration, invasion and deportation"
Professor Stephen Quirke, an Egyptologist at University College London, expressed caution
about the researchers' broader claims, saying that "There has been this very strong attempt
throughout the history of Egyptology to disassociate ancient Egyptians from the
modern population." He added that he was "particularly suspicious of any statement
that may have the unintended consequences of asserting – yet again from a northern
European or North American perspective – that there's a discontinuity there ".
Blood typing and ancient DNA sampling on Egyptian mummies is scant.
However, blood typing of Dynastic period mummies
found their ABO frequencies to be most similar to that of modern Egyptians.
2018 mitochondrial DNA of Djehutynakht In 2018 the 4000-Year-Old mummified head
of Djehutynakht was discovered in Middle Egypt at Deir el-Bersha in 1915. Djehutynakht was a
governor in the Middle Kingdom Egypt of the 11th or 12th Dynasty was analyzed for mitochondrial
DNA. The sequence of the mummy most closely resembles a U5a lineage from sample JK2903,
a much more recent 2000-year-old skeleton from the Abusir el-Meleq site in Egypt although no direct
matches to the Djehutynakht sequence have been reported. Haplogroup U5 is also found in modern
day Berbers from the Siwa Oasis in Egypt. A 2008 article by C. Coudray, The complex and
diversified mitochondrial gene pool of Berber populations, recorded haplogroup U5 at 16.7%
for the Siwa whereas haplogroup U6 is more common in other Berber populations to the west of Egypt.
2012 and 2020 DNA analysis by Zahi Hawass' researchers, Egypt
In 2012 the DNA of the 20th dynasty mummies of Ramesses III and another mummy "Unknown Man E"
believed to be Ramesses III's son Pentawer were analyzed by Albert Zink, Yehia Z Gad and a team
of researchers under Zahi Hawass, then Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities,
Egypt. Genetic kinship analyses revealed identical haplotypes in both mummies using
the Whit Athey's haplogroup predictor, they identified the Y chromosomal haplogroup E1b1a
In 2020 Yehia Z Gad and other researchers of the Hawass team published results of
an analysis of the mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal haplogroups of several
mummies of 18th Dynasty Including Tutankhamun in the journal Human Molecular Genetics,
Volume 30, Issue R1, 1 March 2021, Pages R24–R28, https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddaa223. Results were
used to provide information about the phylogenetic groups of his family members and their presence
among the reported contemporary Egyptian population data. The analysis confirmed previous
data of the Tutankhamun's ancestry with multiple controls authenticating all results. The proposed
sibling relationship between Tutankhamun's parents, Akhenaten and the mummy known as the
"younger lady" is further supported. Genetic analysis indicated the following haplogroups:
Tutankhamun YDNA R1b / mtDNA K Akhenaten YDNA R1b / mtDNA K
Tiye mtDNA K Amenhotep III YDNA R1b / mtDNA K
Yuya G2a / mtDNA K Thuya mtDNA K
The clade of R1b was not determined in this study. In the IGENA study of 2010, the clade determined
of R1b was R-M269 which is essentially present in Europe and Middle East. A high frequency of
R1b1a2 , another clade of R1b, was observed among the Berbers from the Siwa Oasis in Egypt and this
haplogroup reaches it's highest frequency in Norther Cameroon at frequencies as high as 95%.
It is also found in some individuals in southern Europe and Western Asia.
Private testing companies have speculated about the clade of R1b in these 18th dynasty mummies
but the clade has not been indicated in this peer reviewed journal article and it may not be able
to be determined at this time. Yuya unlike the other Amarna males was identified as carrying Y
DNA haplogroup G2a. He was an ancient Egyptian courtier and married to Tjuyu, an Egyptian
noblewoman. Their daughter Tiye became the wife of Amenhotep III. Yuya's parents are unknown.
2020 Paleogenetic Study of Ancient Mummies at the Kurchatov Institute
In 2020 three mummies, dating to the 1st millenium BCE, from the Pushkin Museum of
Arts collection were tested at the Kurchatov Institute of Moscow for their mitochondrial
and Y-chromosomal haplogroups. Two of the mummies were found to belong to Y-chromosomal haplogroups
R1b1a1b and E1b1b1a1b2a4b5a and mtDNA haplogroups L3h1 and N5, respectively.
The third mummy was found to belong to mtDNA haplogroup N.
DNA studies on modern Egyptians Genetic analysis of modern Egyptians
reveals that they have paternal lineages common to other indigenous Afroasiatic-speaking
populations in the Maghreb and Horn of Africa, and to Middle Eastern peoples; these lineages
would have spread during the Neolithic and were maintained by the predynastic period.
A study by Krings et al. on mitochondrial DNA clines
along the Nile Valley found that a Eurasian cline runs from Northern
Egypt to Southern Sudan and a Sub-Saharan cline from Southern Sudan to Northern Egypt.
Luis et al. found that the male haplogroups in a sample of 147 Egyptians were E1b1b , J , G , T,
and R . E1b1b subclades are characteristic of some Afro-Asiatic speakers and are believed to
have originated in either the Middle East, North Africa, or the Horn of Africa. Cruciani et al.
suggests that E-M78, E1b1b predominant subclade in Egypt, originated in "Northeastern Africa",
which in the study refers specifically to Egypt and Libya
Other studies have shown that modern Egyptians
have genetic affinities primarily with populations of North Africa,
the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, and to a lesser extent European populations.
Some genetic studies done on modern Egyptians suggest a more distant relationship to Sub
Saharan Africans and a closer link to other North Africans. In addition,
some studies suggest lesser ties with populations in the Middle East,
as well as some groups in southern Europe. A 2004 mtDNA study of upper Egyptians from
Gurna found a genetic ancestral heritage to modern Northeast Africans, characterized by
a high M1 haplotype frequency and a comparatively low L1 and L2 macrohaplogroup frequency of 20.6%.
Another study links Egyptians in general with people from modern Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Though there has been much debate of the origins of haplogroup M1 a 2007 study had concluded that
M1 has West Asia origins not a Sub Saharan African origin, although the majority of the M1a lineages
found outside and inside Africa had a more recent eastern Africa origin Origin A 2003 Y chromosome
study was performed by Lucotte on modern Egyptians, with haplotypes V, XI, and IV being
most common. Haplotype V is common in Berbers and has a low frequency outside North Africa.
Haplotypes V, XI, and IV are all predominantly North African/Horn of African haplotypes,
and they are far more dominant in Egyptians than in Middle Eastern or European groups.
Y-DNA haplogroups
A study using the Y-chromosome of modern Egyptian males found similar results,
namely that North East African haplogroups are predominant in the South but the predominant
haplogroups in the North are characteristic of North African and West Eurasian populations.
Autosomal DNA Genomic analysis has found that Berber
and other Maghreb communities are defined by a shared ancestral component. This Maghrebi element
peaks among Tunisian Berbers. It is related to the Coptic ancestral component , having diverged from
these and other West Eurasian-affiliated components prior to the Holocene.
North Moroccans as well as Libyans and Egyptians carry higher proportions of European and Middle
Eastern ancestral components, respectively, whereas Tunisian Berbers and Saharawi are
those populations with the highest autochthonous North African component.
A recent genetic study published in the "European Journal of Human Genetics" in Nature showed that
Northern Africans are closely related to Europeans and West Asians as well as to Southwest Asians.
Northern Africans can clearly be distinguished from West Africans
and other African populations dwelling south of the Sahara.
Coptic Christians of Sudan According to Y-DNA analysis by
Hassan et al. , 45% of Copts in Sudan carry haplogroup J1. Next most common was E1b1b,
the most common haplogroup in North Africa. Both paternal lineages are common among other
regional Afroasiatic-speaking populations, such as Beja, Ethiopians, and Sudanese Arabs,
as well as non-Afroasiatic-speaking Nubians. E1b1b reaches its highest frequencies among
native populations such as Amazighs and Somalis. The next most common haplogroups borne by Copts
are R1b , most common in Europe, and the widespread African haplogroup B .
Maternally, Hassan found that the majority of Copts in Sudan carried
descendants of the macrohaplogroup N; of these,
haplogroup U6 was most frequent , followed by T1 . In addition, Copts carried 14% M1 and 7% L1c.
A 2015 study by Dobon et al. identified an ancestral autosomal component of West
Eurasian origin that is common to many modern Afroasiatic-speaking populations in Northeast
Africa. Known as the Coptic component, it peaks among Egyptian Copts who settled
in Sudan over the past two centuries. Copts also formed a separated group in PCA, a close
outlier to other Egyptians, Afroasiatic-speaking Northeast Africans and Middle East populations.
The Coptic component evolved out of a main Northeast African and Middle Eastern
ancestral component that is shared by other Egyptians and also found at high frequencies
among other Afroasiatic-speaking populations in Northeast Africa . The scientists suggest
that this points to a common origin for the general population of Egypt.
They also associate the Coptic component with Ancient Egyptian ancestry, without the later
Arabic influence that is present among other Egyptians, especially people of the Sinai.