Ancient Plague Evidence Unearthed by Scientists

Researchers have uncovered the earliest known evidence of the plague, tracing back nearly 5,500 years. This predates previous estimates by about 200 years. The plague has afflicted humans for thousands of years and was responsible for devastating a significant part of Europe’s population in the 14th century during the Black Death. Although now rare, the disease still exists and can be treated with antibiotics.

According to Eske Willerslev, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Copenhagen, understanding the plague’s history helps us grasp our own history. Willerslev, along with his team, searched for traces of the plague-causing bacterium in the remains of four cemeteries near Lake Baikal in Siberia. They identified plague DNA in the teeth of 18 ancient hunter-gatherers. Carbon dating of the bones indicated two outbreaks, with the first occurring approximately 5,500 years ago.

The team found that the prehistoric plague spread in stages and infected several small families. It likely passed from marmots, large native rodents, to humans when people consumed their raw organs or handled infected skins during butchering. The researchers noted that the disease also transmitted through coughing and sneezing.

Many of those who died were children aged 8 to 11. Three girls were buried side by side, two of whom were probably cousins. The study, published in the journal Nature, also found an aunt and her nephew buried together, while her niece lay in a separate mass grave. Co-author Ruairidh Macleod, who studies ancient DNA at Oxford University, mentioned that the burials indicate that those interring the dead knew them in life, which adds a human element to the scientific analysis.

The data suggest that children were more vulnerable due to weaker immune systems. The presence of multiple victims indicates the prehistoric plague could spark individual cases and outbreaks, stated geneticist Aida Andrades Valtueña from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, who was not involved in the study.

The researchers concluded that this ancient form of the plague evolved long before the bubonic plague responsible for the medieval Black Death. However, evidence shows that earlier plagues were equally deadly, impacting both crowded cities and small nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers.

Andrades Valtueña noted that this research helps us understand how the bacterium evolved into a deadly pathogen, providing insights into possible future pathogen developments.

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