The 4,500-Year-Old Egyptian Man Found In A Tomb — And The DNA Test That Revealed His Unexpected Ancestry

The researchers have also expressed optimism that mummies may eventually yield genomic data, as methods improve further.

NUE001 came from a pre-mummification burial, and the absence of mummification may have helped preserve his DNA.

But as next-generation sequencing technologies continue to improve, extracting usable data from mummies — where the physical preservation is extraordinary but the genetic preservation has been more problematic — may become increasingly feasible.

The forty-year drought of Egyptian ancient DNA appears to be ending.

The Contamination Question And What Authentication Means

One of the most important aspects of the NUE001 result, which deserves explicit discussion, is the authentication of the result — the demonstration that the genome represents genuine ancient DNA rather than modern contamination.