Slaves and servants.

Mercenaries.

Religious specialists.

All of these categories of movement are documented in later periods through texts, and there is no reason to think they were absent in the earlier periods that NUE001 represents.

The 20 percent Fertile Crescent ancestry in NUE001’s genome is the genetic reflection of this connected world.

Real people moved from the east to Egypt.

They settled there.

They had children and grandchildren who were Egyptian in every practical sense — Egyptian in language, culture, religious practice, and social identity.