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Near UN in Geneva, Giant Fresco Advocates for World without Weapons 

An aerial photograph taken on September 11, 2023 shows a giant biodegradable land art painting by French artist Guillaume Legros, aka SAYPE, representing a hand fixing the fourth leg to the "Broken Chair" a monumental wood sculpture installed in front of the Palace of Nations, which houses the United Nations offices in Geneva. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
An aerial photograph taken on September 11, 2023 shows a giant biodegradable land art painting by French artist Guillaume Legros, aka SAYPE, representing a hand fixing the fourth leg to the "Broken Chair" a monumental wood sculpture installed in front of the Palace of Nations, which houses the United Nations offices in Geneva. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
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Near UN in Geneva, Giant Fresco Advocates for World without Weapons 

An aerial photograph taken on September 11, 2023 shows a giant biodegradable land art painting by French artist Guillaume Legros, aka SAYPE, representing a hand fixing the fourth leg to the "Broken Chair" a monumental wood sculpture installed in front of the Palace of Nations, which houses the United Nations offices in Geneva. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
An aerial photograph taken on September 11, 2023 shows a giant biodegradable land art painting by French artist Guillaume Legros, aka SAYPE, representing a hand fixing the fourth leg to the "Broken Chair" a monumental wood sculpture installed in front of the Palace of Nations, which houses the United Nations offices in Geneva. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

On the square across from the United Nations in Geneva, Swiss-French artist SAYPE has used eco-friendly paint to create a giant fresco intended to draw attention to the plight of civilians in armed conflicts.

Working with the Handicap International charity, the 34-year-old painted a gigantic hand on a grass canvas using chalk and coal that, from above, can be seen repairing a huge wooden sculpture known as the Broken Chair.

The three-legged Broken Chair, a work by Swiss artist Daniel Berset erected on Place des Nations in 1997, was designed to raise awareness about the impact of landmines on civilians in conflict zones.

"The idea was to paint a hand that comes to fix the broken leg," SAYPE told Reuters as he stood near his fresco, which is called "All Of Us".

"In my mind, this hand represents the whole world and that we can all get involved and help Handicap International in its fight."

Handicap International was founded in 1982 to assist Cambodian refugees who had lost limbs and it co-founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) in 1992, which won the Nobel Peace Prize.

It assists vulnerable populations around the world, including civilians who have lost limbs due to armed conflict.

The issue of landmines even more topical due to the war in Ukraine, SAYPE said.

The number of people killed or wounded by cluster munitions has increased massively and the destruction in June of the Kakhovka dam and resulting flooding has most likely displaced many mines, creating more danger for civilians.

"For most of my projects, I try to use art to spread messages," SAYPE said. "I like to say that I impact society without impacting nature."

SAYPE is mostly known for his "Beyond Walls" series in which he spray painted giant hands clasping each other in cities including Berlin, Istanbul and Cape Town.

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Ancient DNA Shows Genetic Link Between Egypt and Mesopotamia

This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
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Ancient DNA Shows Genetic Link Between Egypt and Mesopotamia

This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)
This photo provided by researchers shows rock-cut tombs in Nuwayrat, Egypt where a pottery vessel in which the remains of a man, radiocarbon dated to around 2855–2570 cal BCE, was discovered. (John Garstang, Mahmoud Abd El Gelel/Garstang Museum of Archaeology/University of Liverpool via AP)

Ancient DNA has revealed a genetic link between the cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Researchers sequenced whole genomes from the teeth of a remarkably well-preserved skeleton found in a sealed funeral pot in an Egyptian tomb site dating to between 4,495 and 4,880 years ago.

Four-fifths of the genome showed links to North Africa and the region around Egypt. But a fifth of the genome showed links to the area in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent, where Mesopotamian civilization flourished.

"The finding is highly significant" because it "is the first direct evidence of what has been hinted at" in prior work," said Daniel Antoine, curator of Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum.

Earlier archeological evidence has shown trade links between Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as similarities in pottery-making techniques and pictorial writing systems. While resemblances in dental structures suggested possible ancestral links, the new study clarifies the genetic ties.

The Nile River is "likely to have acted as an ancient superhighway, facilitating the movement of not only cultures and ideas, but people," said Antoine, who was not involved in the study.

The skeleton was found in an Egyptian tomb complex at the archaeological site of Nuwayrat, inside a chamber carved out from a rocky hillside. An analysis of wear and tear on the skeleton - and the presence of arthritis in specific joints - indicates the man was likely in his 60s and may have worked as a potter, said co-author and bioarchaeologist Joel Irish of Liverpool John Moores University.

The man lived just before or near the start of ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified as one state, leading to a period of relative political stability and cultural innovation, including the construction of the Giza pyramids.

"This is the time that centralized power allowed the formation of ancient Egypt as we know it," said co-author Linus Girdland-Flink, a paleogeneticist at the University of Aberdeen.

At approximately the same time, Sumerian city-states took root in Mesopotamia and cuneiform emerged as a writing system.

Researchers said analysis of other ancient DNA samples is needed to obtain a clearer picture of the extent and timing of movements between the two cultural centers.