In 2012, the DNA of the 20th dynasty mummies of Ramesses III and another mummy believed to be Ramesses III’s son Pentawer were analyzed by Albert Zink, Yehia Z Gad and a team of researchers under Zahi Hawass, then Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt. Genetic kinship analyses revealed identical haplotypes in both mummies. Using the Whit Athey’s haplogroup predictor, they identified the Y chromosomal haplogroup E1b1a (E-M2). In 2017, a team led by led by researchers from the University of Tuebingen and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena tested the maternal DNA (mitochondrial) of 90 mummies from Abusir el-Meleq in northern Egypt (near Cairo), which was the first reliable data using high-throughput DNA sequencing methods. Additionally, three of the mummies were also analyzed for Y-DNA. … Continue reading How frequent was Rh negative blood in ancient Egypt?