The plague's deadly pedigree goes back 3,000 years earlier than thought
Thursday, October 22, 2015 - 17:50
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Turns out the plague was, er, plaguing humans far earlier than once thought. A study of ancient DNA pulled from human teeth in Asia and Europe finds that the bacteria Yersinia pestis had infected humans as far back as 2,800 to 5,000 years ago – perhaps three millenniums earlier than expected. The...