Ancient DNA Reveals 400 Years of Plague in Europe– www.techexplorist.com

The image most people have when they consider the “Black Death” is a large, devastating pandemic that occurred from 1347 to 1353, killing millions of Europeans. However, this is not true; the plague did not disappear after its initial occurrence. It continued to recur over 400 years and continued to change society through repeated outbreaks.

A new study led by the University of Tartu has now pieced together this long history with unprecedented clarity by reading the DNA of the plague bacterium preserved in human remains.

The team sequenced 26 Yersinia pestis genomes from 11 archaeological sites across Estonia, Russia, England, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. These samples span the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries, covering much of the Second Plague Pandemic.

The study shows that there were many times when the plague was introduced into Europe from other areas. The first time was likely through trade routes. This meant that the plague was re-introduced into Europe multiple times as people traveled around the continent.

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These introductions resulted in new reservoirs for the disease and allowed for the development of different genetic variations of the disease. For instance, Estonia had many introductions of the plague over hundreds of years because of its strong connections with the rest of Europe through trade and travel.