Scientists Uncover Ancient Evidence of Plague
Researchers have uncovered the oldest known evidence of the plague, tracing back nearly 5,500 years, which is about 200 years earlier than previously thought. This disease has afflicted humans for millennia and devastated much of Europe’s population in the 14th century during the Black Death. Although rare today, plague persists and is treatable with antibiotics.
Eske Willerslev, an evolutionary geneticist from the University of Copenhagen, emphasized the significance of understanding the plague’s history to comprehend our own past fully. Willerslev and colleagues searched for plague-causing bacteria traces in four cemeteries near Lake Baikal in Siberia, finding plague DNA in the teeth of 18 ancient hunter-gatherers. Carbon dating of bones identified two outbreaks, with initial cases appearing 5,500 years ago.
The team revealed that prehistoric plague evolved in stages, infecting several small families. It likely spread from marmots, large native rodents, as people consumed raw organs or handled infected skins. The disease also transmitted between people through coughing and sneezing. Many deceased were young, ages 8 to 11, including three girls buried next to each other, two possibly being cousins. The study, published in Nature, also identified an aunt buried with her nephew, while her niece was in a separate common grave.
Co-author, Ruairidh Macleod of Oxford University, remarked on the personal touch of the graves, highlighting that those who buried the dead knew them in life, adding a human element to the scientific work. Researchers noted children might have been at greater risk due to weaker immune systems. The presence of multiple victims suggests prehistoric plague could cause both isolated cases and widespread outbreaks, said geneticist Aida Andrades Valtueña from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, commenting outside the study.
This ancient plague evolved much earlier than the bubonic plague, responsible for medieval Europe’s Black Death. However, earlier plagues appear equally fatal, ravaging not only crowded cities but also small nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers. Andrades Valtueña pointed out that learning about this could help understand how the bacteria evolved into today’s deadly pathogen, offering insights on potential future pathogen emergence.
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