KIng Tut

[west_]

Turns out King Tutenkhamen, of Egypt, was a european.     We've known this for quite awhile (at least a couple of decades), and that the entire royal lineage at the time of Egypt's greatest peak of civilization was of European orgin.   That ain't new.

What's new is how common his lineage remains in Europe, and how entirely unrelated he was (99.9%

Comments

[uberrod]

I wouldn't confuse genetic evidence with cultural practices. I didn't think being Indo-European was so much about genetic make-up rather than language and cultural customs.

The questions about Egyptian religion not being Indo-European are; did they speak an Indo-European language and did they follow typical Indo-European cultural/religious practices? If no, then they are not Indo-Europeans regardless of genetic make-up.

Look at Finland. They are not IE pretty much based on their language. I'm sure if you look at them genetically they would be fairly the same as the other Scandinavian people.

[west_]

Yes. As noted above, if you ignore vast branches of science, and use only one portion of a smaller discipline as your definition, then you can define it as you like. Talk to an anthropologist, however, and you'll darn well get a different explanation.

For some, linguistics (and only *some* at that) is the only science that matters. ...not for most of us though.

[uberrod]

However, if the definition of Indo-European is someone who speaks an Indo-European language than it really doesn't matter what their genetics are. Whether they speak the language because of migration, or because the leadership started speaking it is beside the point.

However I will admit that the Pharoahs having European genetics is really fascinating. As well as the linguistic relation.

If the definition of Indo-European actually incorporates genetic lineage then that is entirely another matter. But from what I've seen Indo-European means a people speaking an IE language and that's it. Archaeology is a tool to trace language speakers from pre-historic times when you have no writing to look at.

[west_]

and you'll have to intentionally ignore the linguists who note that egyptian was a part of or distinctly related to what is called "IE"...

http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi53.htm

But yes: the entire royal lineage of Egypt, over a span of a millenia was *closely* related to western europe ... but *isn't* european according to linguists. If this doesn't make you crack a big laugh, nothing will! :)

[uberrod]

Or maybe a European married into the royal family somewhere along the line. Some political marriage?