A 4,000-year-old sheep reveals the secret of an ancient plague
The find suggests livestock may have helped spread an early plague strain across Eurasia before flea-based transmission evolved, researchers said.
4 Articles
4 Articles
A 4,000-year-old sheep reveals the secret of an ancient plague
A mysterious form of plague that spread across Eurasia thousands of years before the Black Death has finally revealed a crucial clue. Scientists analyzing ancient DNA discovered the bacterium Yersinia pestis in a 4,000-year-old domesticated sheep from a Bronze Age settlement in the Ural Mountains—the first time the pathogen has ever been found in a non-human host from that era. Because this early strain couldn’t spread through fleas like the med…
Plague Devastated Families Thousands of Years Before the Black Death
Viral potential: 6 SEO potential: 8 Rewritten article: The plague is often associated with rats, crowded medieval cities, and the devastating epidemics that struck Europe during and after the Middle Ages. However, a recent study published in Nature suggests that the disease was a deadly threat as far back as 5,500 years ago. At that [...]
A recent study indicates that the plague, caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, was already a lethal threat 5,500 years ago, affecting hunter-gatherer groups in Siberia. The research, published in Nature magazine, reveals...
Plague was killing entire families thousands of years before the Black Death
Ancient DNA reveals that plague was already killing hunter-gatherers in Siberia 5,500 years ago, long before cities and flea-driven epidemics. The prehistoric strains may have been especially dangerous because they carried a genetic factor capable of provoking severe immune reactions.
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