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.

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

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,