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Old Kingdom individual (NUE001)
NUE001 is the genetic code name of an Old Kingdom adult male Egyptian of relatively high-status who was excavated in Nuwayrat (Nuerat, نويرات), in a cliff 265 km south of Cairo, and whose whole-genome ancestry was published in 2025 in an article in the journal Nature. The individual was radiocarbon-dated to 2855–2570 BCE, with funerary practices and related artifacts archeologically attributed to the Third and Fourth Dynasty.
NUE001 is remarkable in that it represents the first successfully sequenced Early Dynastic Egyptian to date, and for the resulting discovery that about 20% of his genetic ancestry can be traced to the Eastern Fertile Crescent, including Mesopotamia, which suggests early human migrations from Mesopotamia to Egypt, in addition to the already known cultural flows starting from at least the 6th millennium BCE.
For the first time in 2025, a study was able to give insights into the genetic background of Early Dynastic Egyptians, by sequencing the whole genome of an Old Kingdom adult male Egyptian of relatively high-status, radiocarbon-dated to 2855–2570 BCE, with funerary practices archeologically attributed to the Third and Fourth Dynasty, which was excavated in Nuwayrat (Nuerat, نويرات), in a cliff 265 km south of Cairo.
Before this study, whole-genome sequencing of Ancient Egyptians from the earliest periods of Egyptian Dynastic history had not yet been accomplished, primarily because of the unforgiving DNA preservation conditions in Egypt. Although previous archaeogenetic research had managed to study the partial DNA of ancient Egyptian individuals from 1388 BCE to 426 CE, only three of the samples had acceptable nuclear contamination rates; two from the Pre-Ptolemaic Period (New Kingdom to Late Period), and one from the Ptolemaic Period. These samples were dated to millennia after the Old Kingdom period, well after Egypt had experienced multiple pivotal upheavals, which may or may not have resulted in substantial genetic turnover within the Egyptian population. As a result, the genetic structure of Early-Dynastic Ancient Egyptians remained unclear.
The body was initially excavated in 1902 and stored in the World Museum in Liverpool, where it survived the bombings during the Blitz in World War Two, until samplings were made for the 2025 study. The discoverer, John Garstang of the University of Liverpool, published a short account of the discovery in The burial customs of ancient Egypt as illustrated by tombs of the Middle Kingdom; being a report of excavations made in the necropolis of Beni Hassan during 1902-3-4 (pp.26-28).
The corpse had been placed intact in a large circular clay pot without embalming or mummification, which were not standard practice at the time, and then installed inside a cliff tomb, which accounts for the comparatively good level of conservation of the skeleton and its DNA. This special mortuary treatment suggests that the individual had a relatively higher social status. However, his skeleton revealed important musculoskeletal stress suggesting intense physical labor, with characteristics possibly consistent with the professional activity of a potter.
The DNA was extracted from the cementum at the root of a tooth, an excellent source for DNA preservation. Shotgun sequencing was used, giving full coverage across the whole genome.
The genetic profile of the Nuwayrat individual was most closely represented by a two-source model, in which 77.6% ± 3.8% of the ancestry corresponded to genomes from the Middle Neolithic Moroccan site of Skhirat-Rouazi (SKH, dated to 4780–4230 BCE), itself consisting of predominantly (76.4 ± 4.0%) Levant Neolithic ancestry and (22.4 ± 3.8%) minor Iberomaurusian ancestry, with the remaining (22.4% ± 3.8%) most closely related to known genomes from Neolithic Mesopotamia (dated to 9000-8000 BCE). No other two-source model met the significance criteria (P>0.05). A total of two Three-source models also emerged, but had similar ancestry proportions, with the addition of a much smaller third-place component from the Neolithic/Chalcolithic Levant.
Old Kingdom individual (NUE001)
NUE001 is the genetic code name of an Old Kingdom adult male Egyptian of relatively high-status who was excavated in Nuwayrat (Nuerat, نويرات), in a cliff 265 km south of Cairo, and whose whole-genome ancestry was published in 2025 in an article in the journal Nature. The individual was radiocarbon-dated to 2855–2570 BCE, with funerary practices and related artifacts archeologically attributed to the Third and Fourth Dynasty.
NUE001 is remarkable in that it represents the first successfully sequenced Early Dynastic Egyptian to date, and for the resulting discovery that about 20% of his genetic ancestry can be traced to the Eastern Fertile Crescent, including Mesopotamia, which suggests early human migrations from Mesopotamia to Egypt, in addition to the already known cultural flows starting from at least the 6th millennium BCE.
For the first time in 2025, a study was able to give insights into the genetic background of Early Dynastic Egyptians, by sequencing the whole genome of an Old Kingdom adult male Egyptian of relatively high-status, radiocarbon-dated to 2855–2570 BCE, with funerary practices archeologically attributed to the Third and Fourth Dynasty, which was excavated in Nuwayrat (Nuerat, نويرات), in a cliff 265 km south of Cairo.
Before this study, whole-genome sequencing of Ancient Egyptians from the earliest periods of Egyptian Dynastic history had not yet been accomplished, primarily because of the unforgiving DNA preservation conditions in Egypt. Although previous archaeogenetic research had managed to study the partial DNA of ancient Egyptian individuals from 1388 BCE to 426 CE, only three of the samples had acceptable nuclear contamination rates; two from the Pre-Ptolemaic Period (New Kingdom to Late Period), and one from the Ptolemaic Period. These samples were dated to millennia after the Old Kingdom period, well after Egypt had experienced multiple pivotal upheavals, which may or may not have resulted in substantial genetic turnover within the Egyptian population. As a result, the genetic structure of Early-Dynastic Ancient Egyptians remained unclear.
The body was initially excavated in 1902 and stored in the World Museum in Liverpool, where it survived the bombings during the Blitz in World War Two, until samplings were made for the 2025 study. The discoverer, John Garstang of the University of Liverpool, published a short account of the discovery in The burial customs of ancient Egypt as illustrated by tombs of the Middle Kingdom; being a report of excavations made in the necropolis of Beni Hassan during 1902-3-4 (pp.26-28).
The corpse had been placed intact in a large circular clay pot without embalming or mummification, which were not standard practice at the time, and then installed inside a cliff tomb, which accounts for the comparatively good level of conservation of the skeleton and its DNA. This special mortuary treatment suggests that the individual had a relatively higher social status. However, his skeleton revealed important musculoskeletal stress suggesting intense physical labor, with characteristics possibly consistent with the professional activity of a potter.
The DNA was extracted from the cementum at the root of a tooth, an excellent source for DNA preservation. Shotgun sequencing was used, giving full coverage across the whole genome.
The genetic profile of the Nuwayrat individual was most closely represented by a two-source model, in which 77.6% ± 3.8% of the ancestry corresponded to genomes from the Middle Neolithic Moroccan site of Skhirat-Rouazi (SKH, dated to 4780–4230 BCE), itself consisting of predominantly (76.4 ± 4.0%) Levant Neolithic ancestry and (22.4 ± 3.8%) minor Iberomaurusian ancestry, with the remaining (22.4% ± 3.8%) most closely related to known genomes from Neolithic Mesopotamia (dated to 9000-8000 BCE). No other two-source model met the significance criteria (P>0.05). A total of two Three-source models also emerged, but had similar ancestry proportions, with the addition of a much smaller third-place component from the Neolithic/Chalcolithic Levant.
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