Paleogenetic Study of Ancient Mummies at the Kurchatov Inst.

[kel]

link.springer.com/article/10.1134/S1995078020050183


Published: 22 March 2021

Nanotechnologies in Russia volume 15, pages 524–531 (2020)



Paleogenetic Study of Ancient Mummies at the Kurchatov Institute

E. B. Yatsishina, E. S. Bulygina, S. V. Vasilyev, R. M. Galeev, N. V. Slobodova, S. V. Tsygankova & F. S. Sharko





Abstract

An interdisciplinary study of ten ancient Egyptian mummies from the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, which date back to the 1st millennium BCE–beginning of the Common Era, was carried out at the NRC Kurchatov Institute. At the initial stage, they were subjected to computerized tomo-graphy (CT), which became the basis for further research: anthropological, medical, and forensic analysis. For paleogenetic and isotopic analysis, the best-preserved bone tissue samples of mummies based on CT data were taken. The article presents the results of experimental studies that determined the mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal haplogroups of some of the studied mummies, the sex previously established by anthropologists was confirmed, the DNA of certain pathogens were found, and isotope analysis was carried out. The data obtained by natural scientific methods supplement important historical information on the genetic diversity of the population of Ancient Egypt and migration processes in this region.


One of the haplogroups, E1b1b1a1b2a4b5a, identified in this study was previously described in a large-scale genetic analysis of mummies of the Preptolemaic, Ptolemaic, and Roman periods

___________________



The mummy of the 1st millennium BC NS. from the collection of the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin No. 3 (1.1а 1290 Pushkin Museum) identified the rare Y-chromosomal haplogroup R-V1636 (R1b1a1b) and mitochondrial haplogroup L3h , in mummy No. 4 (1.1а 5302 Pushkin Museum) - Y-chromosomal haplogroup E1b1b1a1b2a4b5a and mitochondrial haplogroup N5 , in sample No. 1 (1.1а 1241 GMII) - mitochondrial haplogroup N



_______________________



R-L389, also known as R1b1a1 (L388/PF6468, L389/PF6531), contains the very common subclade R-P297 and the rare subclade R-V1636.




samples



1

#1241

Mummy. 1st millennium BC

Undetermined Y-chromosome coverage,

mtDNA N

2485T 3622G 3628T 3630T 3631A 3634A 3643T 3649T3652C 3658A 3667A 3673C 3679T 3685A 3688T 3694A 3700A 3703C 3706A 3712C 3715C 9378A 13709A 14213T



3

#1290

Mummy. 1st millennium BC (?)

Y R1b1a1b

mtDNA L3h1

2708A 9345T 9378A 11018T





4

#5302

Mummy in a sarcophagus with a name of lady Tashet. 4th–1st centuries BC

Y E1b1b1a1b2a4b5a

mtDNA N5

3145G 15131T 15137G 15143A 15146A 15149A 15155A 15176A

in three cases the sex was different from that indicated inthe catalogue of the Pushkin Museum (I, 1a 5301, 5302,5303).

We assume that before the museum acquiredthe mummies,

they were placed in sarcophagi that did not belong to them, which led to erroneous attribution.





________________________________



en.wikipedia.org



Haplogroup E-M215



Loosdrecht et al. (2018) analysed genome-wide data from seven ancient Iberomaurusian individuals from the Grotte des Pigeons near Taforalt in eastern Morocco. The fossils were directly dated to between 15,100 and 13,900 calibrated years before present. The scientists found that all the male specimens with sufficient nuclear DNA preservation belonged to the E1b1b1a1 (M78) subclade, with one skeleton bearing the E1b1b1a1b1 parent lineage to E-V13





L3h1 – Primarily found in East Africa with branches of L3h1b1 sporadically found in the Sahel and North Africa.



tinyurl.com/szssbmr



A Multidisciplinary Study of Egyptian Mummies from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Methodical Aspects)



We present the results of a multidisciplinary study (the first one in Russia) of nine Egyptian mummies owned by the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), carried out at the Kurchatov Institute. A detailed description of the methods is provided. X-ray computed tomography is shown to be a highly informative non-destructive technique for studying the structures of mummies. On the basis of the results, plus the conclusions of forensic experts, a detailed anthropological analysis was conducted. Mummification techniques, sex, and age of all individuals were assessed. In three cases, the sex differed from that indicated in the museum inventory. Morphologically, all crania represent varieties of the Mediterranean type. One individual, however, has typically sub-Saharan features. Pathological changes concern mostly the spine and are both age-related and traumatic. In two individuals, spinal pathologies might have caused death



...Morphologically, all crania represent varieties of the Mediterranean type. One individual, however, has typically sub-Saharan features. Pathological changes concern mostly the spine and are both age-related and traumatic. In two individuals, spinal pathologies might have caused death.

Mummy I,

# 1a 6756



Mummy in a cartonnage coffin. 1st–3rd centuries AD (?)

The craniological traits differs harply from the entire series and have pronounced sub-Saharan features: a low cranial vault, a weak horizontal protrusion, and a relatively short and wide, slightly protruding, low-bridged nose, and alveolar prognathism.

[Tukuler al~Takruri]

Fantastic find!
Didja mean to post T3 twice?
I bet ya got another table to post dontcha?

For any given individual per Stro,
"Haplogroup(s) [w/o Autosomes] mean "shih".
Even so, No 3 1290 could be a 'true mulatto'
considering his 1st millennium BCE dating.


And yeah we'd like "full genome" ADMIXTURE for surety
but then "if wishes were horses beggars would ride".

So one of the mummies, #6756, that didn't yield her genetics fits
the old physical and current forensic anthropology "true negress".
Common Era dating supports others' conclusions about that.

[zarahan]

Great info, but author findings are marred by the obsolete, distorted, or meaningless
category "Mediterranean type." What exactly is the "Mediterranean type"? Sad that in 2021,
some European scholars still are on that obsolete track..
Keita debunked the concept over 20 years ago:


“Mediterranean,” connoting a “race,” “one interbreeding population,” at the craniometric level,
is questionable as defining the “Middle East” during the Bronze Age (Finkel, 1974,1978), invalid as
a term linking geography to a uniform external phenotype (see Snowden, 1970; MacGaffey, 1966; Keita,
1990), inaccurate as a metric taxon for many groups previously assigned to it (Rightmire, 1975a,b),
and problematic as a bony craniofacial morphotype denoting a “race” or mendelian population because
of its varied soft-part trait associations and wide geographical distribution (see “Hamitic” in Coon
et al., 1950; Gabel, 1966; MacGaffey, 1966; Hiernaux, 1975; Rightmire, 1975a).

“Hamitic”, a label once used for some African groups (Fulani, Galla, Beja, southern ancient Egyptian),
is seen by some as equivalent to “Mediterranean White” (e.g., Vercoutter, 1978), but Hiernaux (1975)
points out that it is incorrect to view fossil and living groups once so designated as being “closely
related to Caucasoids of Europe and western Asia.” The term “Hamitic” has been dropped by linguists and
historians as well as by anthropologists because of its contradictions, its inadequacies, and the theory
of race and race history to which it was attached (McGaffey, 1966; Sanders, 1969; Hiernaux, 1975).
Likewise “Brown Race” is sometimes used as a synonym for Mediterranean White, though this interpretation
is historically somewhat inaccurate (MacGaffey, 1966). Sergi (1901), perhaps the father of the original
Mediterranean Race concept (Angel, 1983, personal communication), saw this taxon as being “autonomous”
in origin, not of the Black or White “races.” Physical anthropologists express divergent views on the
characteristic bony craniofacial morphology which is to define the “Mediterranean type” (personal
correspondence from the late J.L. Angel, M-C. Chamla, and A. Wiercinski)."

-- Keita S. 1992. Further Studies of ancient crania from North Africa. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 87:245-254 (1992)



QUOTE:

"Coon (1939) defined Mediterranean in the skeletal sense alone: "as "longheaded, onhognathous
mesorrhtneor leptorrhine, narrow faced, and of medium headsize." Elsewhere he slated that the
"Mediterranean proper" sometimes carries a "Negroid" tendency, which is interesting."
—S Keita 1993 Studies and comments on ancient Egyptian biological relationships.
History in Africa, Vol. 20 (1993), pp. 129-154

[anansi]

Yeah it’s hard to get folks, even those who knows better to break bad habits.

[kel]

Its a shame how much damage the founders of this field have done with their racism. Keita for one is doing a fantastic job healing their damage. We need a lot more like him.

[northsiderasta]

Some of them have been wallowing in absolute denial & ignorance for so long its a cloak of heightened ignorance passed down generation to generation being upheld.