Genetics

Genetics of Modern Egyptians

• Cavalli-Sforza et al. (1994) compared populations from throughout the world using extensive genetic data.  The North African populations grouped with West Eurasian (European, Middle East) populations rather than sub-Saharan Africans.
  
  
• Di Rienzo et al. (1994) studied the relationship of three samples (taken from Egyptians, Sardinians, and sub-Saharan Africans), using mitochondrial DNA and simple sequence repeats.  In terms of genetic distance, the Egyptian sample was closer to the Sardinian sample than to the sub-Saharan African sample.
  
  
• Hammer et al. (1997) used seven different methods to compute population trees of world populations, using Y-chromosome data.  All seven methods grouped the Egyptians with the non-African populations rather than with the sub-Saharan Africans.  Egyptians' genetic profile resembles that of South Europeans more than the other regional groups in the study.
  
  
• Poloni et al. (1997).  Egyptians and a few other African populations (Tunisians, Algerians, and even Ethiopians) showed a stronger Y-chromosome similarity to non-African Mediterraneans than to the remainder of Africans mostly from south of the Sahara.
  
  
• Bosch et al. (1997), using classical genetic markers, calculated Egyptians to be genetically very close to Mediterranean Asians and Europeans. (journal abstract)

Genetics of Ancient Egyptians

• Scientists at the University of Cairo tested DNA from the remains of pyramid workers from 2600 BC, and found that the DNA of ancient Egyptians matches that of modern Egyptians. That is, the people living in Egypt now are essentially the same as the people living there thousands of years ago. (Read an excerpt from PBS's Secrets of the Pharaohs)
  
  
• Borgognini-Tarli and G. Paoli, 1982.  The ABO blood type frequencies of ancient Egyptians showed no signs of differing significantly from that of present-day Egyptians.  According to the authors, "the blood-group distribution obtained for Asiut, Gebelen and Aswan necropoles shows resemblances with the present leucoderm population of Egypt and particularly with its more 'conservative' fraction (the Copts, MOURANT et al., 1976)."

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