Sub Saharan origins for pharaohs (new DNA studies)

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^Amarna period pharaohs 

Geographical analysis of the Amarna mummies was performed using their autosomal STR  profiles based on 8 tested loci. Results are summarized in Table 1 and illustrated in Figure 1. Maps for individual Amarna mummies are included in Figures 2-8 in the Appendix.  

Discussion: Average MLI scores in Table 1 indicate the STR profiles of the Amarna mummies would be most
 frequent in present day populations of several African regions: 
including the Southern African (average MLI 326.94), African Great Lakes
 (average MLI 323.76), and Tropical West African (average MLI 83.74) 
regions.   

These regional matches do not necessarily indicate an exclusively African ancestry for the 
Amarna
 pharaonic family. However, results indicate these ancient individuals 
inherited some alleles that today are more frequent in populations of 
Africa than in other parts of the world (such as D18S51=19 and 
D21S11=34).

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Three months ago another study was conducted on Ramses III and his son concluding that they were E1b1a carriers:

We amplified 16 Y chromosomal, short tandem repeats (AmpF\STR Yfiler PCR
 amplification kit; Applied Biosystems).........Genetic kinship analyses
 revealed identical haplotypes in both mummies (table 1⇓); using the 
Whit Athey’s haplogroup predictor, we determined the Y chromosomal 
haplogroup E1b1a

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This is the current distribution of that particular haplogroup. 

The Dnatribes analysis of the results from the above study:

These results indicate that both Ramesses III and Unknown Man E (possibly his son Pentawer) shared an ancestral component with present day populations of Sub-Saharan Africa....
A previous issue of DNA Tribes Digest identified African related ancestry for King Tut and 
other royal mummies from the Amarna Period.   In this issue, results indicate that the later pharaoh 
Ramesses III also inherited alleles that are most  frequent in present day populations of Sub-Saharan Africa. This provides additional, independent evidence of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (possibly among several ancestral components) for pharaonic families of ancient Egypt.....In addition, these DNA match results in present day world regions might in part express 
population changes in Africa after the time of Ramesses III. In particular, DNA matches in present day  populations of Southern Africa and the African Great Lakes might to some degree reflect genetic links  with ancient populations (formerly living closer to New Kingdom Egypt) that have expanded southwards  in the Nilotic and Bantu migrations of the past 3,000 years (see Figure 1)

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These recent genetic studies all indicate that the ancient Egyptians have a closer genetic relationship to modern populations across Sub Saharan Africa and particularly the Nilotic populations of the Great Lakes region of Africa. The strong cultural connection between the ancient Egyptians and the modern peoples of the Upper Nile/Great Lakes region has been noted by scholars for over a century now:

Anthropologist studies have consistently shown that the ancient Egyptians that the ancient Egyptians were originally black Africans and overtime gained biological affinities towards Middle Eastern and southern European populations:

On this basis, many have postulated that the Badarians are relatives to South African populations
  (Morant, 1935 G. Morant, A study of predynastic Egyptian skulls from  
Badari based on measurements taken by Miss BN Stoessiger and Professor  
DE Derry, Biometrika 27 (1935), pp. 293–309.Morant, 1935; Mukherjee et  
al., 1955; Irish and Konigsberg, 2007). The archaeological evidence  
points to this relationship as well. (Hassan, 1986) and (Hassan, 1988)  
noted similarities between Badarian pottery and the Neolithic Khartoum  
type, indicating an archaeological affinity among Badarians and Africans
  from more southern regions. Furthermore, like the Badarians, Naqada 
has  also been classified with other African groups, namely the Teita (Crichton, 1996; Keita, 1990).

 Nutter
 (1958) noted affinities between the Badarian and Naqada  samples, a 
feature that Strouhal (1971) attributed to their skulls  possessing 
“Negroid” traits. Keita (1992), using craniometrics,  discovered 
that the Badarian series is distinctly different from the  later 
Egyptian series, a conclusion that is mostly confirmed here. In  the 
current analysis, the Badari sample more closely clusters with  
the Naqada sample and the Kerma sample. However, it also groups with  
the later pooled sample from Dynasties XVIII–XXV. -- Godde K.  
(2009) An Examination of Nubian and Egyptian biological distances:  
Support for biological diffusion or in situ development? Homo.  
2009;60(5):389-404.

Which is of course correlated with the latest archaeological conclusions regarding ancient Egypt's origins:

Conclusion

To sum up, Nubia is Egypt’s African ancestor.
 What linked Ancient Egypt to the rest of the North African cultures is 
this strong tie with the Nubian pastoral nomadic lifestyle, the same 
pastoral background commonly shared by most of the ancient Saharan and 
modern sub-Saharan societies. Thus, not only 
did Nubia have a prominent role in the origin of Ancient Egypt, it was 
also a key area for the origin of the entire African pastoral tradition.

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So then why does the popular media still like to depict these ancient Africans as:

Does the Western world have an emotional attachment to the lie the ancient Egypt was not black? Why all of the ignorance? 

Edited by Asante - 27-Mar-2013 at 15:03