PopGen Ancient Egypt

Life and death in ancient Egypt – Paleogenetic examinations for the reconstruction of living conditions, diseases and the ancestry of Egyptian mummies

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  • Project duration: -
  • Project status: ongoing
  • Funding:
    Internal funding EURAC (Project)
  • Institute: Institute for Mummy Studies

In this project, we aim to investigate the population genetic history of Egypt using ancient DNA (aDNA) analyses. For this, Egyptian mummies and skeletal remains housed in the collections of the Museo Egizio of Turin and the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin will be analyzed. These specimens encompass a time span of about 5000 years (4000 BC - AD 800) and have been recovered from various archaeological sites in Egypt. Thus, the data obtained by this project will, for the first time, cover all periods of ancient Egyptian history as well as a broad geographical context. To all specimens high-throughput sequencing methods, including DNA hybridization capture techniques, will be applied, to reconstruct mitochondrial genomes and, for specimens exhibiting a good DNA preservation, also whole-genome datasets. Thereby, this project will investigate the genetic history of Egypt not only on a uniparental level, based on the maternal lineage, but also on a genome-wide scale.

Publications
Genetic Predisposition of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in Ancient Human Remains
Wurst C, Maixner F, Paladin A, Mussauer A, Valverde G, Narula J, Thompson R, Zink A (2024)
Journal article
Annals of Global Health

https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.4366

Genetic study of Predynastic to early Islamic ancient Egyptian human remains
Mussauer A, Wurst C, Paladin A, Coia V, Maixner F, Zink A (2024)
Presentation/Speech

Conference: Mummies and the Ancient Egyptians | Budapest | 29.1.2024 - 2.2.2024

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in mummies: a polygenic risk score based on a genetic enrichment approach
Wurst C, Maixner F, Paladin A, Mussauer A, Valverde G, Thompson R, Zink A (2023)
Presentation/Speech

Conference: New Horizons in Biomolecular Archaeology (ISBA10) | Tartu | 13.9.2023 - 16.9.2023

Genetic study of ancient Egyptian human remains dating from the Predynastic Period to the early Islamic Period (ca. 4000 cal. BCE - 800 cal. CE)
Mussauer A, Wurst C, Paladin A, Coia V, Maixner F, Zink A (2023)
Presentation/Speech

Conference: New Horizons in Biomolecular Archaeology (ISBA10) | Tartu | 13.9.2023 - 16.9.2023

Four thousand years of maternal ancestry in ancient Egypt illuminated by mitochondrial genome sequencing
Mussauer A, Wurst C, Paladin A, Coia V, Maixner F, Helmbold-Doyé J, Del Vesco P, Rosendahl W, Zink A (2022)
Presentation/Speech

Conference: 10th World Congress on Mummy Studies | Bolzano | 5.9.2022 - 9.9.2022

Facial depiction of a Roman Period mummy with portrait from the Fayoum Oasis, Egypt

Liu J, Wilkinson C, Roch A, Zesch S, Mussauer A, Paladin A, Zink A (2022)
Presentation/Speech

Conference: 10th World Congress on Mummy Studies | Bolzano | 5.9.2022 - 9.9.2022

Mummy of vizir Imhotep: interdisciplinary study and restoration work
Facchetti F, Paladin A, Aicardi S, Manzollino R, Sutherland ML, Wurst C, Mussauer A, Samadelli M, Zink A, Greco C (2022)
Presentation/Speech

Conference: 10th World Congress on Mummy Studies | Bolzano | 5.9.2022 - 9.9.2022

Project Partners
1 - 3
  • Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim

  • Egyptian Museum Torino

  • Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection Berlin

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