Overview
- Researchers recovered Yersinia pestis DNA from a 4,000-year-old domesticated sheep bone found at Arkaim in the Southern Ural Mountains, marking the first Bronze Age plague genome from a non-human host.
- The finding, published in Cell, expands the known host range of the prehistoric lineage that circulated across Eurasia for roughly two millennia before disappearing.
- Unlike the medieval Black Death strain, the earlier lineage lacked flea-borne adaptations, indicating a different transmission ecology.
- Study authors propose a spread shaped by interactions among people, livestock, and an as-yet-unidentified natural reservoir, with candidates including steppe rodents or migratory birds.
- Co-author Taylor Hermes secured a five-year, €100,000 Max Planck Society grant to excavate near Arkaim for additional human and animal samples, a challenging effort given DNA degradation in ancient animal remains.