Same mother but different fathers gave birth to Egyptian mummy brothers, reveals study
- 6 years ago
Same mother but different fathers gave birth to Egyptian mummy brothers, reveals study
In the year 1907, Erfai, an excavator discovered an Egyptian tomb that was untouched. This unusual site contained two tombs of men from high-society named Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht with adjacent coffins. These coffins were strong enough to survive the pillaging being done by tomb raiders.
The coffins were dated 4000 years back with inscriptions that told a section of the story from their life. Both these coffins contained the name of their mothers who was the same woman named “Khnum-aa”. The excavators of the tombs nicknamed the burial site “the tomb of the two brothers”.
Mitochondrial DNA produced convincing results. “Because we recovered nearly complete [mitochondrial DNA] profiles, we can be very confident that they are maternally related,” Drosou said. Data from Y chromosomes, however, were spottier. But the information was complete enough to indicate that these men probably had different fathers. “Comparisons between six regions of the Y chromosome indicate that possibly they have a different father,” she said.
The two coffins are up for display at the Manchester Museum in Britain from the year 1908. However, from the beginning of their discovery, scientists have doubted the fraternal relationship between the two men. An in-depth study of the ancient DNA of both the mummies was led by Margaret Murray who is an anthropologist at the British university. It was hard for the scientists to convince themselves that these two men belonged to the same race, with far less chance of belonging to the same family. The anatomy of these mummies was different as well. The team agreed on studying scraps obtained from their skin. The distinct complexion of the bodies suggested that they didn’t share the same parents.
In the year 1907, Erfai, an excavator discovered an Egyptian tomb that was untouched. This unusual site contained two tombs of men from high-society named Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht with adjacent coffins. These coffins were strong enough to survive the pillaging being done by tomb raiders.
The coffins were dated 4000 years back with inscriptions that told a section of the story from their life. Both these coffins contained the name of their mothers who was the same woman named “Khnum-aa”. The excavators of the tombs nicknamed the burial site “the tomb of the two brothers”.
Mitochondrial DNA produced convincing results. “Because we recovered nearly complete [mitochondrial DNA] profiles, we can be very confident that they are maternally related,” Drosou said. Data from Y chromosomes, however, were spottier. But the information was complete enough to indicate that these men probably had different fathers. “Comparisons between six regions of the Y chromosome indicate that possibly they have a different father,” she said.
The two coffins are up for display at the Manchester Museum in Britain from the year 1908. However, from the beginning of their discovery, scientists have doubted the fraternal relationship between the two men. An in-depth study of the ancient DNA of both the mummies was led by Margaret Murray who is an anthropologist at the British university. It was hard for the scientists to convince themselves that these two men belonged to the same race, with far less chance of belonging to the same family. The anatomy of these mummies was different as well. The team agreed on studying scraps obtained from their skin. The distinct complexion of the bodies suggested that they didn’t share the same parents.