Eurach Research

PopGen Ancient Egypt

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

    • Project duration: -
    • Project status: finished
    • 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

    The multidisciplinary study of ancient Egyptian mummies
    Zink A, Wurst C, Paladin A, Mussauer A, Maixner F (2024)
    Presentation/Speech

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

    The 3,300-year-old Yersinia pestis genome of an ancient Egyptian mummified individual
    Maixner F, Gaul E, Mussauer A, Paladin A, Wurst C, Sarhan M, Samadelli M, Del Vesco P, Facchetti F, Posth C, Spyrou M, Zink A (2024)
    Presentation/Speech

    Conference: European Meeting of the Paleopathology Association PPA | Leiden | 21.8.2024 - 24.8.2024

    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

    Project Team
    1 - 5

    Projects

    1 - 10

    Science Shots Eurac Research Newsletter

    Get your monthly dose of our best science stories and upcoming events.

    Choose language
    Eurac Research logo

    Eurac Research is a private research center based in Bolzano (South Tyrol) with researchers from a wide variety of scientific fields who come from all over the globe. Together, through scientific knowledge and research, they share the goal of shaping the future.

    No Woman No Panel

    What we do

    Our research addresses the greatest challenges facing us in the future: people need health, energy, well-functioning political and social systems and an intact environment. These are complex questions, and we are seeking the answers in the interaction between many different disciplines. [About us](/en/about-us-eurac-research)

    WORK WITH US

    Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.