But while experts now know a fair amount about ancient Egyptian life, they still understand very little about the population’s genetic makeup. Researchers have genomically analyzed three specimens to date,

Scientists have for the first time sequenced the most complete and oldest ancient Egyptian genome ever found—unlocking new secrets from the Old Kingdom.

This major milestone comes four decades after initial efforts by Nobel laureate Svante Pääbo to recover ancient Egyptian DNA ended with limited results due to poor preservation. The newly reconstructed genome provides valuable genetic evidence of Egypt’s ancient connections with both North Africa and West Asia,