DNA Sequencing for Ancient Egyptian Mummies

Degradation is a major obstacle, when trying to recover Ancient DNA. Therefore, most DNA analysis have been conducted on modern Egyptians with the objective of learning about the impact of ancient migrations on the population of Egypt. Although contagion is a major problem, when it comes to recoveirng ancient DNA, Paabo and Di Rienzo was successful at attaining DNA from ancient mummies of the twelfth Dynasty.  They identified multiple lines of descent which originated in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition to the Twelfth Dynasty revealing sub-saharan African DNA for ancient mummies, a recent DNA analysis of the mummies of Ramses III and prince Pentawer (also known as unknown man E) of the Twentieth Dynasty confirmed they were father and son and they carried sub-Saharan African Haplogroup E1b1a.

The Next-Generation Sequencing 

In 2013, Nature publicized that Dr. Carsten Pusch of the University of Tübingen in Germany and Rabab Khairat lead a research team that sequenced DNA from the next-generation (also known as the Greco-Roman dynasty, which were foreign occupiers) with the objective of trying to comprehend the ancestral lineage of an Ancient Egyptian individual. The heads of five Egyptian mummies that were housed at the institution were used to extract the ancient DNA dated between 806 BC and 124 AD. According to Jo Merchant, the researchers observed that ONE of the mummified individuals likely belonged to the mtDNA haplogroup I2, a maternal clade that is believed to have originated in Western Asia. However, according to those who have a bad habit of misleading the public about the raw evidence about ancient Egypt, they would have you believe that ALL ancient Egyptian mummies' DNA turned up with mtDNA haplogroup I2 or any other haplogroups other than sub-Saharan African haplogroups.