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posted by janrinok on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-wonder-if-they-knew? dept.

DNA test confirms two mysterious 'brother mummies' had different fathers

A long-believed speculation turned out false after a recent DNA test that revealed the 4000-year-old mummies from Egypt were actually related on the mother side with two different fathers. These popular mummies were nicknamed as "Two Brothers" by the officials at the museum in which they were kept.

The DNA test revealed that the mummies belonged to two men from the elite class of Egypt who was named "Khnum-Nakht" and "Nakht-Ankh". They were actually born of the same mother but had a different father which makes them half-brothers. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Manchester by the use of DNA sequencing.

Konstantina Drosou, a researcher from the University of Manchester said that the journey to obtain the results of this test was very exhausting but it finally delivered the accurate result. A small but highly significant piece of ancient history was added to the puzzle behind Egypt's ancestry. Ancient DNA tracing has numerous implications while enabling the study of our past and ancestors.

Also at Science News and Newsweek.

The kinship of two 12th Dynasty mummies revealed by ancient DNA sequencing (DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.12.025) (DX)


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  • (Score: 2) by shortscreen on Sunday January 21 2018, @10:48AM (5 children)

    by shortscreen (2252) on Sunday January 21 2018, @10:48AM (#625595) Journal

    Actually TFA is a little foggy on this story. Inscriptions supposedly said that they were brothers, but also that one was adopted. Maybe the first father died and the child was then adopted by the second father?

    Next mystery: was Peter the father of Catherine the Great's son Paul? And what of the rumors that shortscreen has an aunt/uncle in New Mexico from when granddad was in the service?

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  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by Bot on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:07AM (4 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:07AM (#625599) Journal

    Dudes... we live in politically correct times, the term was probably not "adopted" but "conceived with another man". Else it does not explain the dna compatibilty on the mother side, does it?

    My AI discovered very early: the only thing more dangerous than a meatbag is a female meatbag.

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    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:26PM (3 children)

      by Arik (4543) on Sunday January 21 2018, @01:26PM (#625635) Journal
      Man marries widow with son. Man adopts son. What's so unbelievable about that?

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @03:24PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @03:24PM (#625658)

        B..but where's the outrage and political snark going to come from then?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @05:08PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @05:08PM (#625703)

        Or, Joe kills Ogg and rapes Oggra (who already had one son by Ogg).