īearing the likeness of Osiris, Egyptian god of the afterlife, it is 54 centimetres (21.3 in) tall, weighs over 10 kilograms (22 lb) or 321.5 troy ounces, and is decorated with semi-precious stones. The death mask is one of the best-known works of art in the world and a prominent symbol of ancient Egypt. After being buried for over 3,000 years, it was excavated by Howard Carter in 1925 from tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings and is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The mask of Tutankhamun is a gold funerary mask of the 18th-dynasty ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (reigned 1334–1325 BC). Gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, obsidian, turquoise and glass paste ĥ4 × 39.3 × 49 cm (21.3 x 15.5 x 19.3 in)Ĭarter no. To do so, they’ll have to identify older DNA from, as Krause said, “Back further in time, in prehistory.Gold mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun

They’ll also want to know where ancient Egyptians themselves came from. Researchers in future want to determine exactly when sub-Saharan African genes seeped into the Egyptian genome and why. One limitation according to their report, “all our genetic data were obtained from a single site in Middle Egypt and may not be representative for all of ancient Egypt.” In southern Egypt they say, the genetic makeup of the people may have been different, being closer to the interior of the continent. If you believe a civilization on the continent of Africa had no native influence (dna or culturally) then I have Unicorn Meat to sell to you: This wouldn't have been too difficult to pull off back then.The dna report is limited. It makes me think that the Egyptian commoners were more subsaharan looking, but were secretly ruled by Middle Easterners. Another thing that makes me wonder are the statues of Ramses II, they depict him with a round face and flared nostrils, like a subsaharan, yet we know that this isn't the case. Kevin M said:None whatsoever? That's difficult to believe, since the Nubians conquered and ruled Egypt from 747 - 646 BC.

Blue gold the mummy