Everyone knows the story of Tutankhamun, the famous Pharaoh discovered in a intact tomb with a incredible treasure by archaeologist Howard Carter. After studying and analyzing his mummy’s DNA, Tutankhamun’s race has become a global problem.
Few people know that he is the son of another famous character , the pharaoh Akhenaten , who wanted to reform the religion of the ancient Egyptians and was the first in the world who introduced monotheism , worshiping only the god Ra, the Sun . Well, geneticist Yehia Gad sequenced several years ago , in 2008 , Tutankhamun’s DNA . Gad and his team looked , in fact , several mummies , which allowed them to reconstruct the genealogy of five generations of the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt . But the results have exceeded all expectations: an anonymous mummy , her name code KV55 was found to be , in fact, himself Akhenaten , the pharaoh rebel , which ancient Egyptians almost deleted any reference in response to his religious reforms . Furthermore, some of the fetuses mummies found in the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun, have been shown to be its faces . Tests also showed that parents were also brothers. I mean both Akhenaten and Nefertiti were beautiful brother and sister. This discovery would be too shocking in itself because inbreeding was widespread in ancient Egypt or among the Incas.
Between science and geopolitics.
The discovery was made public in 2010 and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was part of a documentary on Discovery Channel and then reached the National Geographic magazine. Akhenaten and Nefertiti had planted themselves, even when they conceived Tutankhamun seeds degenerative disease that led subsequently to the death of their son. Gad ‘s team has published information about racial or ethnic origins of Tutankhamun , saying that the data are insufficient. But here really starts soap. Swiss company dealing with genetics and genealogies, called IGENEA, sent a press release stating that Tutankhamun ‘s DNA belongs to an ancestral lines, or haplogroup, called R1b1a2. This is rare in Egypt today, but it is extremely common in Western Europe. Their evidence was a screenshot of the Discovery documentary, which show a sequence of DNA pharaoh.
When history becomes a sensitive issue.
Furthermore, neo-Nazi groups have begun to say that Tutankhamun was “white” and appeared on dozens of YouTube videos that says that Tutankhamun’s blood is “Aryan”. Others have subsequently convicted on the grounds that they are racists. Some were afraid of a possible Jewish connection, which could lead to tensions with Israel if it comes to issues like “Egypt was part of the Promised Land” by Yahweh to Moses. The problem is complex, especially when Egypt and Israel have led several wars in recent decades, the most famous being in 1973, when Israeli armed forces reached the Suez Canal.
“White” or “black”.
But the dispute has reached the international level has been linked to its origins “white” or “black”. Right-wing groups claim that the pharaoh is actually Nordic, while others want to portray him as black. A documentary that was presenting treasures of Tutankhamun finally came to lead demonstrations on the basis that African cultural heritage is denied, while a traveling exhibition of its treasures in 2005, led to protests in Los Angeles, demonstrators accusing the facial reconstruction of the king, based on the scan of the skull is not sufficiently “black”.
Contamination of evidence?
The problems are not just race. Other geneticists have questioned the research results of Gad, unless they were contaminated. And not by scientists but by those who from the 1920s until the 1980s mummies were handled with bare hands without gloves and without strict procedures current. The researcher had very little time for testing, and after the “Arab Spring” has not had access to mummy, so as to produce new tests to check again. But he is convinced that the result of his research is the best.
National security.
A lot of people just waiting to arrogate downward or upward of Egyptian pharaohs. Mormons in the U.S., for example, claim to come from Joseph, who was a close friend of the royal family of Egypt, the idea that Jews have emigrated around 600 BC in America, where they became the ancestors of “red-skins.” Of course, certain DNA data shows that Native Americans came from Asia 15,000 years ago, but that does not stop them to believe what they want. For current Egypt, King Tut’s DNA became national security issue, since it can challenge the country’s position to other countries. For African Americans as a source of pride that one of the greatest civilizations in history would be “black”, long before any European civilization to appear. Of course, the ancient Egyptians were part of a different ethnic group.
The Copts, direct descendants of the pharaohs.
Their closest descendants are the Copts current, a religious minority in Egypt today who keep the Christian religion in a specific embodiment. They are about 10% of the country’s of 82 million. Their language is derived from that used in Egypt during the Roman period. Now, however, they use Arabic, Coptic language no longer used only rarely, especially liturgical purposes. More recently, however, there is a growing interest for the revival of this language. The Copts do not see themselves as Arabs, but direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians. A part of the ancient Copts passed, but over time to Islam.
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