A new study sequencing the first complete ancient Egyptian genome reveals the 4,500-year-old man had significant ancestry from Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).

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

DNA obtained from the remains of a man who lived in ancient Egypt around the time the first pyramids were built is providing evidence of the ties between two great cultures of the period, with a fifth of his genetic ancestry traced to Mesopotamia.