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T O P I C     R E V I E W
the lioness,
Member # 17353
 - posted
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/8/10/262/htm

Genes 2017, 8(10), 262; doi:10.3390/genes8100262
Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequencing of a Burial from a Romano–Christian Cemetery in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt: Preliminary Indications

J. Eldon Molto 1,* , Odile Loreille 2,†, Elizabeth K. Mallott 3, Ripan S. Malhi 4, Spence Fast 2, Jennifer Daniels-Higginbotham 2, Charla Marshall 2 and Ryan Parr 5


(excerpt)

Abstract
The curse of ancient Egyptian DNA was lifted by a recent study which sequenced the mitochondrial genomes (mtGenome) of 90 ancient Egyptians from the archaeological site of Abusir el-Meleq. Surprisingly, these ancient inhabitants were more closely related to those from the Near East than to contemporary Egyptians. It has been accepted that the timeless highway of the Nile River seeded Egypt with African genetic influence, well before pre-Dynastic times. Here we report on the successful recovery and analysis of the complete mtGenome from a burial recovered from a remote Romano–Christian cemetery, Kellis 2 (K2). K2 serviced the ancient municipality of Kellis, a village located in the Dakhleh Oasis in the southwest desert in Egypt. The data were obtained by high throughput sequencing (HTS) performed independently at two ancient DNA facilities (Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, Dover, DE, USA and Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA). These efforts produced concordant haplotypes representing a U1a1a haplogroup lineage. This result indicates that Near Eastern maternal influence previously identified at Abusir el-Meleq was also present further south, in ancient Kellis during the Romano–Christian period.

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Over time Kellis was a diverse municipality with a combination of pagan, popular magic, and Manichean and Christian beliefs; however, when abandoned near the mid-4th century AD, it was Christian [11]. Kellis was also a sophisticated community attested by the recovery of multiple texts written in Manichaean, Greek, and Coptic [11,12].
Here we report and discuss the preliminary implications of the presence of mitochondrial haplotype U1a1a in Kellis during the Romano-Christian period. Moreover, this result is compared to similar data recently reported from Abusir el-Meleq. Importantly, the ancient population of Kellis represents an uncommon opportunity to characterize a stable community over a period of 400 years. The study of temporal and spatial migration using genetic markers of the K2 population shall increase understanding of the movement patterns of people in antiquity.

Discussion
The general presence of mitochondrial haplogroup U in the ancient Near East suggests a widespread distribution, which is consistent with its deep temporal presence in Europe. According to Fu et al. [24], hunter-gatherers residing in Neolithic Europe were nearing fixation for haplogroup U at 83%. Coincident with the transition from hunter-gatherers to an agrarian-based culture, the frequency of haplogroup U declined to 12% mirrored by a parallel influx of haplogroup H (25–37%). This shift in haplogroups suggests that agriculture was brought to Europe by groups possessing agrarian technology. Contemporary European populations are generally characterized by less than 21% haplogroup U [24].
U7 and U3 have been identified as markers of the ancient Etruscans (900–509 BC) [25]. These lineages were found among the residents of Murlo, an isolated town with Etruscan origins in the Siena providence of Italy. These maternal signatures are typical of Near Eastern groups. Moreover, a sampling of the mitochondrial DNA of the ancient Minoans of Crete uncovered one haplogroup U and one haplogroup U5 individual [26].
Interestingly, haplogroup U5b2c1 was recently identified in a 6th century BC Phoenician burial from Carthage, North Africa [27]. This maternal sequence is likely linked to areas of Phoenician influence on the islands of the Mediterranean, the North Mediterranean coast, or possibly along the Iberian Peninsula coast. The sea-faring trade culture of the Phoenicians was a likely conduit of this haplogroup. Haplogroup U lineages were identified in three burials from the Roman Period (30 BC–395 AD) of Abusir el-Meleq, Egypt [28], which occurred just prior to and overlapping with the early occupation of Kellis. In addition, for all three occupation periods of Abusir-el Meleq, there is a moderate frequency of haplogroup U (25%), but no U1a1a individuals were identified.
In the context of ancient Kellis, U1a1a suggests close association within the history of the ancient Near East. The Iranian and Iraqi Jewish populations are the oldest non-Askenazi Jewish communities outside the Levant, dating to approximately 600 BC. During this time, groups were driven out or fled as refugees of their established homelands in the Levant by either the Assyrian capture of Israel (722 BC) or the Babylonian conquests of Judah (597 and 587 BC). U1a1a is cited as one of six haplogroups possibly dating from these events, attesting to the presence of this lineage in the ancient Near East as early as these military-driven political events [29]. Although resident in a modern Iranian non-Askenazi Jewish group [29], haplogroup U1a1a existed at varying frequencies in many populations in the ancient Near East. U1a1a is also present in contemporary populations from Lebanon [27], Turkey [30], Pakistan, Palestine [31], Armenia (KX398117 & KX821325), and Iran [32], suggesting that this maternal signature was likely found in groups within this general area in antiquity. Haplogroup U1a1a has also been identified in older samples discovered at the South Caucus site of Artsakh (1700–1800 AD [33]).
At the time Kellis was occupied, the Roman Empire was exerting political pressure on some religious groups, particularly, the nascent Christian movement. The feet-East with the head-West burial position in the K2 cemetery indicates that Christian burial practices were utilized by Kellis inhabitants. This burial orientation is seen at other Christian-influenced sites, such as Fag el-Gamous [34]. Fleeing from areas of high Roman concentration to isolated areas such as Kellis to avoid religious persecution may have been a common practice. Additionally, Kellis was a significant center of commerce, trade, and travel despite its remote location [5], and was located along the caravan routes which serviced the western desert oases. Nitrogen isotope analyses of two K2 burials containing leprous individuals indicate that both individuals could have been recent arrivals to the oasis [5,35,36,37,38]. Lower nitrogen and higher oxygen isotope values indicate that other individuals interred in K2 lived elsewhere before returning to the oasis, or could have been new arrivals. If the latter is true, some may have arrived in the caravan trades that frequently moved through Kellis [39].
5. Conclusions
The Romano–Christian community of Kellis represents a rare opportunity to characterize its ancient inhabitants through metric and non-metric traits and HTS. Moreover, the preservation of the interred residents at Kellis 2 is exceptional because of this hyper arid environment. The 400-year temporal span of Kellis 2 is an archive of the effective population, offering insights into evolutionary genetic trends of this population, though more burials will need to be radiocarbon-dated, and more samples will need to be sequenced both for mtDNA and nuclear markers. Amalgamation of morphogenetic and ancient DNA data sets should present unprecedented insight into a resident group of individuals living within a dynamic historical context of ancient Egypt. The mitochondrial haplotype U1a1a of B124 suggests a long tenure of this particular maternal line in the ancient near East, with its own vibrant history of maternal descent. Finally, it appears likely that, in antiquity, genetic influences from the Near East dispersed upstream from the Nile River as far back as the New Kingdom, reaching to Middle Egypt at Abusir el-Meleq, and at least as far south as Kellis during the Romano-Christian Period.
 
beyoku
Member # 14524
 - posted
Once skeleton? Parr is playing games. What are they saying it was a Jewish slave?
 
Tyrannohotep
Member # 3735
 - posted
quote:
Originally posted by beyoku:
Once skeleton? Parr is playing games. What are they saying it was a Jewish slave?

Honestly, it sounds like the conditions for aDNA preservation simply aren't ideal in Egypt. I remember the team working on the Abusir el-Meleq mummies had some difficulty extracting uncontaminated aDNA (hence why they only got genome-wide samples from three mummies). If late dynastic to Roman period remains are so difficult to sample, it may not bode well for sampling aDNA from early dynastic or predynastic remains in this region. [Frown]
 
Thereal
Member # 22452
 - posted
Call me conspiracy theorists but I don't think that's really the issue but whole race question concerning that part of Africa and west Asia.
 
beyoku
Member # 14524
 - posted
FYI - Parr was sequencing mtdna from these same mummies 17 years ago.
 
capra
Member # 22737
 - posted
quote:
Originally posted by Thereal:
Call me conspiracy theorists but I don't think that's really the issue but whole race question concerning that part of Africa and west Asia.

Conspiracy theorist.

When you bring home meat from the grocery store, do you leave it out on the counter in the hot sun?

I know there is no point trying to convince you, but scientists in general are bleeding-heart liberals who don't give two shits how black or white ancient civilizations are. I'm a member of the Green Party and I think the average biologist is a god-damn hippy. And anthropologists are far worse commie scum. Sorry.
 
Thereal
Member # 22452
 - posted
Don't ridiculous you know some those people have issues on race in parts of Africa and western Asia.
 
Elite Diasporan
Member # 22000
 - posted
While I agree that stuff about conspiracy theory and ALL anthropologist being racists with a agenda... I disagree tho that almost all anthropologist are bleeding hippies.\

Anyways sorry for the offtopic. I am glad more mummies are getting tested even tho this one appears to be from a Roman period.
 
Elmaestro
Member # 22566
 - posted
quote:
I know there is no point trying to convince you, but scientists in general are bleeding-heart liberals who don't give two shits how black or white ancient civilizations are.
...But they do care about where they money comin' from. sitting on data as well as releasing fragments for an extended period of time is not un-common. Genetic studies on aDNA from these "Arid" areas have been done since before I was born.

We still se things like the unfold today, for instance, whats the reasoning behind pulling Ballito Bay and friends raw DNA data off of the web... and whats taking fregel to upload his data... Where are all the chadians, etc...
 
capra
Member # 22737
 - posted
OK, I exaggerated slightly - and I don't actually know any anthropologists personally. [Smile]

And yeah Elmaestro, getting the grant money, piling up the citations, and defending the pet theories, for sure! Ain't none of us saints, but I would bet racism is way down the list.

Fregel et al is a preprint, most labs don't release data till the actual data comes out. If you want conspiracies, apparently the Tianyuan genome has been stripped of phenotype and Y DNA data... which I guess means they found something interesting and are going to put it in another paper.

Yeah I am glad to see they are working on it and that it is possible at all! - I think we will eventually get something from older and really interesting times, with enough effort. I wonder if the remains inside the pyramids and larger tombs won't actually be better preserved on account of all that mass of stone insulating them.
 
Tyrannohotep
Member # 3735
 - posted
I can confirm from personal experience that anthropologists, at least in the States, tend to be a politically progressive/liberal bunch. That doesn't mean they're completely immune to Eurocentric conditioning, however. We all know your typical non-African person grows up with media portrayals of AE as all Middle Eastern or even dark-haired European in appearance and cultural affinity, so that image is what most of them are going to carry in their heads if they decide to pursue anthropology or Egyptology as a field. We all have our preconceptions, after all.
 
Doug M
Member # 7650
 - posted
The fact is that the institutions of Egyptology specifically and Anthropology in general are both legacies of racist colonial European expansion.

This is widely documented in the writings from the 18th, 19th and 20th century. Heck when I was a child there were still many books openly expressing racist views towards Africans and many other populations around the world in terms of their "biological inferiority". "Race" is the basis of all anthropological study in the West and most of that was based on the concept of "racial superiority" of white Europeans. All of this was part and parcel of the colonial expansion of Europeans and explaining why they conquered and why the people they conquered needed to accept white conquest.

And it is precisely as a result of this history of global conquest and colonization that Europeans have been able to "study" many different populations all over the world. Not to mention this expansion also created the infrastructure and networks of institutions created by Europeans that preserves the history and culture of the peoples they have destroyed over time. And this is why European scholars are the dominant force in anthropology to this day. All of this came about due to conquest and bloodshed not peace and goodwill.

Theodore Roosevelt:
quote:

There is one feature in the expansion of the peoples of white, or European, blood during the past four centuries which should never be lost sight of, especially by those who denounce such expansion on moral grounds. On the whole, the movement has been fraught with lasting benefit to most of the peoples already dwelling in the lands over which the expansion took place. Of course any such general statement as this must be understood with the necessary reservations. Human nature being what it is, no movement lasting for four centuries and extending in one shape or another over the major part of the world could go on without cruel injustices being done at certain places and in certain times. Occasionally, although not very frequently, a mild and kindly race has been treated with wanton, brutal, and ruthless inhumanity by the white intruders. Moreover, mere savages, whose type of life was so primitive as to be absolutely incompatible with the existence of civilization, inevitably died out from the regions across which their sparse bands occasionally flitted, when these regions became filled with a dense population; they died out when they were kindly treated as quickly as when they were badly treated, for the simple reason that they were so little advanced that the conditions of life necessary to their existence were incompatible with any form of higher and better existence. It is also true that, even where great good has been done to the already existing inhabitants, where they have thriven under the new rule, it has sometimes brought with it discontent from the very fact that it has brought with it a certain amount of well-being and a certain amount of knowledge, so that people have learned enough to feel discontented and have prospered enough to be able to show their discontent. Such ingratitude is natural, and must be reckoned with as such; but it is also both unwarranted and foolish, and the fact of its existence in any given case does not justify any change of attitude on our part.

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/espada/roosevelt.htm

Therefore, today, African scholars who are critiquing European scholarship are doing so based on that FACT OF HISTORY not based on conspiracy theories or rumors.

It is no coincidence that much of European anthropology and ideas around race trace back to the study of Egypt because they recognize Egypt as a key point in the development of civilization. And therefore key to proving the superiority of the "white race". Samuel Morton and others being proof of this.

We already have threads from the University of Pennsylvania discussing this history. So no matter how "liberal" some scholars today may be, the fact is that the institutions themselves that they work for or study in are themselves part of a long legacy of racism. And it is only fair that they be judged based on that legacy instead of pretending that it doesn't exist.

And most importantly we need to also acknowledge the fact that the only reason the openly racist language of the past anthropologists changed is not due to any "liberal" attitudes of whites, but because of the concerted effort of multiple African and other scholars putting pressure on these institutions and their racism in the past and present. We should absolutely never forget that. Black people in America and elsewhere fought and died to end this overt racism. This didn't just come about on its own.
 
Clyde Winters
Member # 10129
 - posted
quote:
Originally posted by Tyrannohotep:
quote:
Originally posted by beyoku:
Once skeleton? Parr is playing games. What are they saying it was a Jewish slave?

Honestly, it sounds like the conditions for aDNA preservation simply aren't ideal in Egypt. I remember the team working on the Abusir el-Meleq mummies had some difficulty extracting uncontaminated aDNA (hence why they only got genome-wide samples from three mummies). If late dynastic to Roman period remains are so difficult to sample, it may not bode well for sampling aDNA from early dynastic or predynastic remains in this region. [Frown]
Researchers attempt to mask out so-called African genes I would suspect they only used three mummies because the other mummies carried mostly African genes.
 
Linda Fahr
Member # 21979
 - posted
Is shocking to me, that Afrocentrists and Eurocentrists, based Ancient Egyptians DNA on Mummies with curly and straight hair, found from 17th to 20th dynasties, which were the results of interbreed of Egyptian Kings to women from established kingdoms outside of Africa, which at first were African colonies in the Levant and Caucasus regions.

I want to see DNA results from the pre dynastic, dynasties, and from the kings, Queens and Priests from the first dynasty to to 12 dynasty. Don't forget, that the first ever African mummy was from a NEGROID child from south of Libya. But, still, Middle Easterners still bragging that they were the founders of Egyptian civilization, even if by the time they arrived in the region, Egyptian civilization had already started thousands of years earlier.

In fact, Egyptian pre dynastic and dynasties from 1th to 12th, were the ones which developed 2 Egyptian writing systems, invented Ink, paper, Laws, mathematics, medicine,improved mummification, built a great navy with hundreds of large ships, and built the greatest temples and pyramids in Egypt.

The rest is wannabe blah...blah...blah...
 
Linda Fahr
Member # 21979
 - posted
Is shocking to me, that Afrocentrists and Eurocentrists, based Ancient Egyptians DNA on Mummies with curly and straight hair, found from 17th to 20th dynasties, which were the results of interbreed of Egyptian Kings to women from established kingdoms outside of Africa, which at first were African colonies in the Levant and Caucasus regions.

I want to see DNA results from the pre dynastic, dynasties, and from the kings, Queens and Priests from the first dynasty to to 12 dynasty. Don't forget, that the first ever African mummy was from a NEGROID child from south of Libya. But, still, Middle Easterners still bragging that they were the founders of Egyptian civilization, even if by the time they arrived in the region, Egyptian civilization had already started thousands of years earlier.

In fact, Egyptian pre dynastic and dynasties from 1th to 12th, were the ones which developed 2 Egyptian writing systems, invented the Mastaba,Obelisks, the first wheel for weaving linen, to make beautiful clothes, sophisticate jewelry, while Middle Easterners, Caucasians and Europeans still dressing themselves in animal fur. They also invented Ink, paper, Laws, mathematics, astronomy, medicine,improved mummification, built a great navy with hundreds of large ships, and built the greatest temples and pyramids in Egypt and of course, they were great sculptors.

The rest is wannabe blah...blah...blah...
 
Clyde Winters
Member # 10129
 - posted
quote:
Originally posted by Linda Fahr:
Is shocking to me, that Afrocentrists and Eurocentrists, based Ancient Egyptians DNA on Mummies with curly and straight hair, found from 17th to 20th dynasties, which were the results of interbreed of Egyptian Kings to women from established kingdoms outside of Africa, which at first were African colonies in the Levant and Caucasus regions.

I want to see DNA results from the pre dynastic, dynasties, and from the kings, Queens and Priests from the first dynasty to to 12 dynasty. Don't forget, that the first ever African mummy was from a NEGROID child from south of Libya. But, still, Middle Easterners still bragging that they were the founders of Egyptian civilization, even if by the time they arrived in the region, Egyptian civilization had already started thousands of years earlier.

In fact, Egyptian pre dynastic and dynasties from 1th to 12th, were the ones which developed 2 Egyptian writing systems, invented the Mastaba,Obelisks, the first wheel for weaving linen, to make beautiful clothes, sophisticate jewelry, while Middle Easterners, Caucasians and Europeans still dressing themselves in animal fur. They also invented Ink, paper, Laws, mathematics, astronomy, medicine,improved mummification, built a great navy with hundreds of large ships, and built the greatest temples and pyramids in Egypt and of course, they were great sculptors.

The rest is wannabe blah...blah...blah...

I understand your concern but you work with the data you have.

There is nothing wrong with Levantine DNA and hunter-gather and European farmer DNA, when you provide an archaeological context to the cultures relating to where the DNA was found, when attempting to understand the ancient African DNA. This is because of the fact that the Cultural traditions and artifacts for the ancient European cultures such as HG, Bell Beaker/Yamnaya spread from Africa to Europe, and the Levantine people who took these cultures to Europe were Kushites.

White Arabs, like the Syrians entered the Levant during Sumerian times as represented by the Gutians, Europeans do not enter the area until after 1400BC. You will find few ancient Eurpean and Gutian skeletons because these people usually practiced a nomadic culture so they cremated the dead, so they could take their ancestors with them as they moved from place to place.
 
Clyde Winters
Member # 10129
 - posted
quote:
Originally posted by Linda Fahr:
Is shocking to me, that Afrocentrists and Eurocentrists, based Ancient Egyptians DNA on Mummies with curly and straight hair, found from 17th to 20th dynasties, which were the results of interbreed of Egyptian Kings to women from established kingdoms outside of Africa, which at first were African colonies in the Levant and Caucasus regions.

I want to see DNA results from the pre dynastic, dynasties, and from the kings, Queens and Priests from the first dynasty to to 12 dynasty. Don't forget, that the first ever African mummy was from a NEGROID child from south of Libya. But, still, Middle Easterners still bragging that they were the founders of Egyptian civilization, even if by the time they arrived in the region, Egyptian civilization had already started thousands of years earlier.

In fact, Egyptian pre dynastic and dynasties from 1th to 12th, were the ones which developed 2 Egyptian writing systems, invented Ink, paper, Laws, mathematics, medicine,improved mummification, built a great navy with hundreds of large ships, and built the greatest temples and pyramids in Egypt.

The rest is wannabe blah...blah...blah...

This vedio explains why Afrocentrics can use ancient DNA from outside of Sub-Saharan Africa to extrapolate the ancient DNA of Africans. Click on link

 -


Abusir Maleq Mummies
 
Elite Diasporan
Member # 22000
 - posted
quote:
Abstract: The curse of ancient Egyptian DNA was lifted by a recent study which sequenced the mitochondrial genomes (mtGenome) of 90 ancient Egyptians from the archaeological site of Abusir el-Meleq. Surprisingly, these ancient inhabitants were more closely related to those from the Near East than to contemporary Egyptians. It has been accepted that the timeless highway of the Nile River seeded Egypt with African genetic influence, well before pre-Dynastic times. Here we report on the successful recovery and analysis of the complete mtGenome from a burial recovered from a remote Romano–Christian cemetery, Kellis 2 (K2). K2 serviced the ancient municipality of Kellis, a village located in the Dakhleh Oasis in the southwest desert in Egypt. The data were obtained by high throughput sequencing (HTS) performed independently at two ancient DNA facilities (Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, Dover, DE, USA and Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA). These efforts produced concordant haplotypes representing a U1a1a haplogroup lineage. This result indicates that Near Eastern maternal influence previously identified at Abusir el-Meleq was also present further south, in ancient Kellis during the Romano–Christian period.
This part got my attention.
 
Oshun
Member # 19740
 - posted
Surprise surprise, a small late period site that had contact with Libyans and Romans has non African ancestry.
 



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