
Ancient plague mystery cracked after DNA found in 4,000-year-old animal remains
Fox News
Researchers find Bronze Age plague DNA in 4,000-year-old sheep from southern Russia, revealing how the pathogen spread between animals and humans in ancient times.
Deirdre Bardolf is a lifestyle writer with Fox News Digital.
Researchers found DNA from the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis in the tooth of a Bronze Age sheep discovered in what is now southern Russia, according to a study recently published in the journal Cell. It is the first known evidence that the ancient plague infected animals, not just people, and offers a missing clue about how the disease spread.
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