Modern Egyptians, genetically closer to blacks than to ancient Egyptians. Ancient Egyptians, genetically were close to the ancient Near East i.e. current Europeans. Data show that modern Egyptians share about 8% more genes with sub-Saharan African populations than with ancient Egyptians. "This suggests that there has been an increase in the influx of genes from sub-Saharan Africa to Egypt over the past 1,500 years," explains Stephan Schiffels, team leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena. Increased mobility down the Nile, increased long-distance trade between sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt, and the trans-Saharan slave trade, which began about 1,300 years ago, may have been likely causal factors. The study found that ancient Egyptians were most closely related to ancient populations of the Levant, as well as Neolithic populations from the Anatolian Peninsula and Europe. "The genetics of the Abusir el-Meleq community did not undergo any major changes during the 1,300 years we studied, suggesting that this population remained genetically relatively unaffected by foreign conquest and rule," says Wolfgang Haak, team leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena.