In Ancient Egypt the mother was more important than parents

2018-01-18 08:47

In Ancient Egypt the mother was more important than parents
Social status in Egypt was inherited through the maternal line, scientists say.

Sign up for news “UkrMedia” in Facebook, Twitter or Google+

Two residents of Ancient Egypt, which until now were considered brothers, were the only relatives on his mother, reports Rus.Media. This fact suggests that social status in Egypt was inherited through the maternal line, scientists say.

Two Egyptian mummies which were discovered near the village of the Reef in 1907, lived in the era of the twelfth dynasty, and died between 1985 and 1773 to A. D. the Inscription on wooden sarcophagus, in which lay their mummified bodies, I remember a woman by the name of khnum-AA, the mother of both men and women – local ruler who, according to ancient text, had both brothers father.

In an article published in the journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, archaeologists from the University of Manchester argue that men were only half brothers. This was possible partly reconstructed DNA extracted from the teeth of mummies.

Suspicions to the partial relationship of males arises because of differences in the structure of their skeletons, especially skulls. In 2014, the analysis of mitochondrial DNA has forced geneticists to assume that even the mother of the “brothers” were different, but later the methodology which was used by the authors of the study, was considered too imperfect in order to draw final conclusions.

In the new study, the scientists compared the fragments of mitochondrial DNA from both the mummies and DNA (fragments of the Y-chromosome). Mitochondrial DNA is passed through maternal lines, were the same in both male and Y chromosomes that accrue to children from parents, was different.

Historians believe that the discovery by British geneticist may indicate greater than assumed, the role of women in Egyptian society. Nebula mentions about the parents of the brothers may be explained by the fact that both of them had a lower social status than the mother of khnum-AA. “Perhaps the power was vested in Egypt of the 12th dynasty through the maternal line. A child must inherit the social status of the father,” – said one of the authors of the study, Egyptologist Campbell Price (Campbell Price). This hypothesis is confirmed by other written sources, in which the names and rulers of Egypt, and the rank and file of its inhabitants are mentioned along with the names of their mothers.