Skip to comments.
The Black Death Was History's Most Lethal Plague. Now Scientists Say They Know Where It Started
CBC ^
| Sep 23, 2023
| Isabelle Gallant
Posted on 09/23/2023 11:35:10 AM PDT by nickcarraway
There are few events in human history as ominous — both in name and impact — as the Black Death.
The bubonic plague pandemic made its way across Eurasia and north Africa between 1346 and 1553. It's estimated to have killed up to 200 million people, or 60 per cent of the Earth's entire population at the time.
Now, scientists believe they have pinpointed the origin of the Black Death to a region of present day Kyrgyzstan called Issyk-Kul, once a stopover on the Silk Road trade route in the 14th century.
Its place of origin has been one of the most hotly debated controversies in the history of epidemiology. Philip Slavin, an associate professor of environmental history at Stirling University in Scotland, and part of the research team, told Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald there have been a couple of prevailing theories over the past 200 years.
"The Black Death was thought to have originated either in China or in Central Asia," Slavin said. "But one thing in common to those theories was that there was absolutely no way to actually prove those theories without the ancient DNA." 14th century grave markers referred to 'pestilence' The new study began several years ago when by chance Slavin came across a graveyard in the Lake Issyk-Kul region of present-day Kyrgyzstan. The graveyard had clearly marked and dated gravestones that showed an unusually high number of burials in the years 1338 and 1339.
"What's really remarkable is that some of those tombstones, the inscriptions were actually longer and more detailed than others," Slavin said. "They stated very precisely that the cause of the death of those individuals was 'pestilence.'"
Slavin wanted to investigate further, because these deaths occurred only six or seven years before the Black Death turned up in Europe. He thought there could be a connection. So he and his colleagues looked for ancient DNA from skulls that had been found by archeologists from the graveyard during excavations in the 1880s and 90s.
Microbial DNA from the skulls matched DNA from the plague bacterium called Yersinia pestis, the strain responsible for the plague.
Their research was published in the journal Nature.
"We also were able to actually compare that strain to other strains from the Black Death in Europe. And what we found, astonishingly, is that genetically, that particular strain from northern Kyrgyzstan actually precedes the other strains from Europe." Slavin said.
"It is situated exactly just before a very important evolutionary event," which Slavin and his colleagues came to call the plague bacteria's "big bang" of diversification into different genetic variants. "So that strain preceded this huge big bang, whereas the main line split into four new lines. And one of those lines actually gave birth to the Black Death in Europe. So we know it actually started there in Central Asia."
The value of ancient DNA Dr. David Fisman, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, said in an email that ancient DNA studies like this "have really provided a lot of insights into the origins of historical plagues."
In particular, he pointed to the value of the nucleic amplification technology that the researchers used, which allowed them to take tiny amounts of preserved ancient DNA and make copies of it to study.
"The ability to amplify sequences, even when material has been buried in the ground for centuries, does transform the way we understand epidemics."
But in the case of understanding where the Black Death originated, ancient DNA answered only one part of the mystery. Slavin and his team still didn't know how this virulent strain of plague got into humans in the first place.
The bubonic plague often persists in the wild in rodents, and Slavin thinks he knows which species was responsible.
"It was really bound to start with local marmots, because the marmot is the most prevalent type of plague-carrying rodent in that region." Salvin said. Marmots are large ground squirrels common in the area.
"And at some point, something must have happened which prompted those bacteria to cross over from marmots into humans. Usually what happens is that you have population collapse in those rodents. And then fleas which are carrying the bacteria become very, very unhappy, and they start seeking an alternative host — and this [new host] is usually humans."
The Black Death takes the Silk Road Another key part of the story is that this region of Kyrgyzstan was a stopover on the Silk Road trading route that extended from China to western Europe. The Black Death then spread by humans, or fleas travelling with humans, as they travelled the Silk Road, according to Slavin.
"We suspect that both long-distance trade and the local regional trade were a very, very paramount factor in spreading this disease all the way from Tian Shan region into west Eurasia and beyond," he said.
Written and produced by Mark Crawley
TOPICS: Health/Medicine; History; Science
KEYWORDS: blackdeath; bubonicplague; epidemilogy; fleas; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; kyrgyzstan; marmots; middleages; pandemic; plague; rodents; silkroad; theplague; yersiniapestis
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-56 last
To: Craftmore
Because of cleanliness jewish people were less likely to catch it.Many people of the time therefore blamed the joooos!!! The Jews basically handled the black death like Leviticus says to handle leprosy. One of the Italian kingdoms decided to do the same, making a rule that if someone gets sick with it they should be set aside for 40 days from everybody else. The way they said "40 days" in that old Italian dialect is where get our word "quarantine" today.
41
posted on
09/23/2023 3:13:07 PM PDT
by
Tell It Right
(1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
To: nickcarraway
Black death is an inner-city pandemic.
42
posted on
09/23/2023 3:17:24 PM PDT
by
nesnah
(Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach on)
To: aculeus
HISTORYS MOST LETHAL PLEAUGE IS MARXISM.
43
posted on
09/23/2023 3:23:01 PM PDT
by
cowboyusa
(YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA! DEATH TO MARXISM AND GLOBALISM! Trump 2024, NO more Mr Nice)
To: ProtectOurFreedom
Doctors wore masks, in Italy and other parts of Europe, but at a somewhat later date, They covered the whole face and had bird beaks over the nose.
They didn't prevent getting the BLACK DEATH, though.
People ( wealthy ones ) who lived in big cities often fled to the countryside; hence we have THE DECAMERON...read it!
As the old French saying goes: "THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME."!
To: ProtectOurFreedom
Marmots aren’t all that innocent...
https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/marmots.htm
You Are Entering Marmot Country.
From spring through mid-summer, the marmots of Mineral King have been known to dine on radiator hoses and car wiring. They can disable a vehicle. On several occasions, marmots have not escaped the engine compartment quickly enough and unsuspecting drivers have given them rides to other parts of the parks; several have ridden as far as southern California!
45
posted on
09/23/2023 3:28:34 PM PDT
by
abb
To: aculeus
Maybe that’s the next one. They have to depopulate somehow.
Bet this one forcefully works on the elderly (Medicare/Medicaid)
Babies too. Not enough abortions.
To: heartwood
The Nestorian Church spread east along the Silk Road to China.
The Church of the East (also known as the Nestorian Church) historically had a presence in China during two periods: first from the 7th through the 10th century in the Tang dynasty, when it was known as Jingjiao (Chinese: 景教; pinyin: Jǐngjiào; Wade–Giles: Ching3-chiao4; lit. ‘Luminous Religion’), and later during the Yuan dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries, when it was described alongside other foreign religions like Catholicism and possibly Manichaeism as Yelikewen jiao (Chinese: 也里可溫教; pinyin: Yělǐkěwēn jiào).
The Xi’an Stele, erected in Chang’an 781.
After centuries of hiatus, the first Assyrian Church of the East Divine Liturgy was celebrated in China in 2010.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_East_in_China
47
posted on
09/23/2023 4:07:24 PM PDT
by
FarCenter
(https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/aircraft-glitch-delays-canada-pm-trudeaus-departure-india-202)
To: nickcarraway
48
posted on
09/23/2023 4:20:11 PM PDT
by
Jane Long
(What we were told was a conspiracy theory in ‘20 is tnow fact. Land of the sheep, home of the knaves)
To: oldvirginian
Marmots live at alpine elevations, fleas not so much as it tends to be too dry for their eggs to survive.
49
posted on
09/23/2023 4:20:33 PM PDT
by
Tellurian
(To the Dems, the middle class is a festering wound. They want it amputated.)
To: oldvirginian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LXq6vKfIuA
A hunter prepares two marmots shot at dusk. He removes the organs and the guts. He eats the kidneys raw. The heart, liver and other edible organs are placed back in the gut hole along with the hands and feet. The Marmot is cooked by inserting hot river stones in the gut cavity while the skin is burned away using a torch. It is very chewy because the skin in eaten with the meat and fat. The Mongolians accept it as a delicacy.
50
posted on
09/23/2023 4:27:14 PM PDT
by
PeterPrinciple
(Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
To: oldvirginian
Have you noticed that humans lead the animal kingdom in autoimmune disease as well? Zonulin passes all sorts of antigens into the lymph and blood systems including food opioids, the cause of most autoimmune diseases. It’s a nasty side effect of evolution’s rush to eliminate overcrowding through death and improvement.
51
posted on
09/23/2023 4:31:40 PM PDT
by
nagant
To: oldvirginian
"It’s more likely that Y. Pestis made the jump from animal to human due to human consumption of marmots and other carriers of the disease."
Do marmots close relative today carry the Yersinia pestis bacteria or its antigens?
52
posted on
09/23/2023 4:51:43 PM PDT
by
Hiddigeigei
("Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish," said Dionysus - Euripides)
To: PeterPrinciple
I watched a show with Josh Gates in Mongolia. His guide shot a marmot gutted it and cooked it in the ground after burning off the hair. Gates didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea but went through with eating with his guide.
53
posted on
09/23/2023 5:07:22 PM PDT
by
oldvirginian
("Had I known what the North had in store for us, I would have continued fighting." Gen R E Lee )
To: Fiji Hill
He is indeed…
A very FAT, pampered, Whistle Pig…
Otherwise know as a meatloaf on legs…
54
posted on
09/23/2023 5:11:31 PM PDT
by
NFHale
(The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
To: CatOwner
They hadn’t back then too!
55
posted on
09/23/2023 6:33:47 PM PDT
by
ealgeone
"Hey Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"
"Again?!?"
"Nothin' up muh sleeve. Presto!"
"ROAR!"
"Must be the wrong hat."
The rest of the Yersinia pestis keyword, sorted:
- Rome Strikes Back: Belisarius and the Wars of Justinian (ALL PARTS) [07/04/2023]
- Austria's Oldest Bronze Age Plague Victims Identified [06/25/2023]
- When Did Plague Reach Britain? Archaeologists Find Earliest Victims [05/30/2023]
- Buried medical waste found in Renaissance-era landfill on site of ancient Roman forum [05/10/2023]
- The Black Death may not have been spread by rats after all [01/21/2023]
- Surviving Winter in the Middle Ages [12/25/2022]
- The Forgotten 1202 earthquake [12/21/2022]
- How Black Death survivors gave their descendants an edge during pandemics [10/20/2022]
- Pathogens Detected in Bronze Age Remains in Greece [08/14/2022]
- Ancient DNA traces origin of Black Death [06/16/2022]
- Black Death origin mystery solved after 675 years, researchers say [06/15/2022]
- Black Death/bubonic plague) [05/19/2022]
- How the black rat colonized Europe in the Roman and Medieval periods [05/07/2022]
- An urban rat expert has a silver bullet for rodent control [02/10/2022]
- Justinianic Plague was nothing like flu and may have hit England before Constantinople [11/27/2021]
- Book Review: Federico De Romanis and Marco Maiuro, eds., Across the Ocean: Nine Essays on Indo-Mediterranean Trade [08/14/2021]
- A 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer already plagued by Yersinia pestis (Yersinia pestis is discovered in a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer from Latvia) [06/30/2021]
- The Four Black Deaths [04/12/2021]
- How did the plague reshape Bronze Age Europe? [05/20/2020]
- Infectious disease modeling study casts doubt on impact of Justinianic plague [05/04/2020]
- Classical Corner: The Antonine Plague and the Spread of Christianity [04/14/2020]
- Church Records Could Identify an Ancient Roman Plague [04/10/2020]
- What The Great Historian Thucydides Saw In Athens' Plague -- And Our Own [04/08/2020]
- "Work of Every Description Ceased" ~ First hand accounts of the Plague of Justinian, 6th century AD [04/01/2020]
- Great Plague of 1665-1666 How did London respond to it? [03/28/2020]
- UK 'plague village' offers lesson for a country under lockdown [03/24/2020]
- When plague in Italy killed 1.5 million people in a single year ~ Saint Frances of Rome and the Plague of 1656 [03/09/2020]
- "He incurred the emperor's anger" ~ The last days and death of Belisarius [03/02/2020]
- Origins Of The Black Death Traced Back To China, Gene Sequencing Has Revealed; A Plague That Killed Over a Third of Europe's Population [02/27/2020]
- Teens discover 1500-year-old church that redefines Israeli history [11/27/2019]
- Plague in humans 'twice as old' but didn't begin as flea-borne, ancient DNA reveals [07/28/2019]
- Bubonic Plague "Imminent" in Los Angeles, Says Dr. Drew Pinsky [07/23/2019]
- CHOLERA-Plague of 19th Century, First Global Epidemic; Day of Fasting proclaimed by President Taylor [07/10/2019]
- Did a new form of plague destroy Europe's Stone Age societies? [06/13/2019]
- Shipping Stone [Byzantine wreck, 150 tons of stone aboard] [04/01/2019]
- March 23, AD 536 ~ Mutiny of Justinian's Army in Africa [03/23/2019]
- On this day in history: Belisarius smashes the retreating Goths: End of the siege of Rome, AD 538 [03/12/2019]
- The Dancing Plague of 1518 [July 1518] [08/21/2018]
- Oldest Bubonic Plague Genome Decoded [06/11/2018]
- Maybe Rats Aren't to Blame for the Black Death [01/15/2018]
- DANCING WITH DEATH Plague is spreading because relatives are digging up their Black Death dead [10/31/2017]
- How The Black Death Plague Helps The Environment, It Could Reduce Atmospheric Lead Pollution [06/02/2017]
- Black Death may have been lurking for centuries: DNA of plague victims in France backs up theory... [01/23/2016]
- Did famine worsen the Black Death? [01/07/2016]
- In Ancient DNA, Evidence of Plague Much Earlier Than Previously Known [11/06/2015]
- The Justinian Plague of 562 A.D. an Electromagnetic Drama? [11/02/2015]
- Plague Infected Humans Much Earlier Than Previously Thought [10/24/2015]
- The Mutant Genes Behind the Black Death [10/09/2015]
- Medieval Apocalypse The Black Death...(Nat Geo documentary via You Tube) [10/03/2015]
- Victims of the Great Plague 'discovered' at Liverpool Street station [08/13/2015]
- Rats reprieved as giant gerbils are blamed for the Black Death [02/24/2015]
- Experts raise alarm as plague kills dozens in Madagascar [02/02/2015]
- Is Ebola the Same Virus as the Black Death? Historical Similarities are Striking [10/14/2014]
- Experts: Ebola Outbreak, Black Death 'Plague' Spread From Africa as Viruses [10/11/2014]
- Was Ebola Behind the Black Death? [10/01/2014]
- Could the Black Death Actually Have Been an Ebola-like Virus? [09/30/2014]
- Archaeologists discover 'industrial scale' wine production at ancient site [09/21/2014]
- The Next Pandemic [09/02/2014]
- New study sheds light on survivors of the Black Death [05/30/2014]
- Black Death skeletons unearthed by Crossrail project [03/31/2014]
- European genes altered by Black Death [02/04/2014]
- Black Death may have scuppered Roman Empire [01/28/2014]
- Plague decoded: Researchers link 2 of the most devastating pandemics in history [01/27/2014]
- Why Halley's Comet May Be Linked to Famine 1,500 Years Ago [12/20/2013]
- Dipstick test for plague on the way [07/20/2013]
- How The Bubonic Plague Actually Saved Europe In The 14th Century (Finance) [05/15/2013]
- Plague Helped Bring Down Roman Empire [05/12/2013]
- Black Death Genetic Code "Built" [10/13/2011]
- Deadly Black Death bug hasn't changed, but we have [10/12/2011]
- Black Death Bacterium Identified: Genetic Analysis of Medieval Plague Skeletons... [09/03/2011]
- Colorado Cat Tests Positive for Bubonic Plague [06/08/2011]
- Fall of Rome Recorded in Trees [01/18/2011]
- BBC:Roman Rise, Fall 'Recorded in Trees' (Climate Change Led to Fall of Empire) BARF-A-GANZA! [01/16/2011]
- Climate Changes Linked to Fall of Roman Empire [01/14/2011]
- Cause of the big plague epidemic of Middle Ages identified [10/20/2010]
- Convicted Disease Doc Won't Be Charged in MIA Scare [09/03/2010]
- Plague researcher in Chicago dies from infection (Yersinia pestis, septicemic plague infection) [09/21/2009]
- [Plague] Bacteria linked to university scientist's death [09/20/2009]
- Macedonia: Archaeological Excavations of Justiniana Prima Continue near Skopje [02/05/2009]
- Comet smashes triggered ancient famine [ March 536 AD ] [01/08/2009]
- Study of ancient and modern plagues finds common features [11/21/2008]
- Plague kills 37-year-old man in Arizona [10/21/2008]
- Scientists Discover Why Plague Is So Lethal [05/05/2008]
- Plague Victims Discovered After 1500 Years (Justinian) [04/10/2008]
- The Chances Of Surviving The Black Death [03/29/2008]
- Justinian 30, Factionists 10: The Nika Rebellion of AD 531 [Superbowl Warm-up] [02/02/2008]
- Black Death Targeted The Weak [01/30/2008]
- Clues to Black Plague's Fury in 650-Year-Old Skeletons [01/28/2008]
- Medieval DNA, Modern Medicine (Lessons From The Black Death) [10/16/2007]
- Black Death Casts A genetic Shadow Over England [08/01/2007]
- Lost documents shed light on Black Death [06/01/2007]
- Disabling Key Protein May Give Physicians Time To Treat Pneumonic Plague [01/27/2007]
- British Historian Claims to Have Found the Temple Treasures [10/09/2006]
- An Empire's Epidemic (Justinian Plague) [09/18/2006]
- Europe's Chill Linked To Disease (Black Death Caused Little Ice Age?) [02/27/2006]
- Tobacco Plant Transformed into Plague Vaccine Factory [01/18/2006]
- Medieval Plague May Explain Resistance to HIV [03/10/2005]
- Global Warming and Global Cooling are as Old as the Black Plague [02/22/2005]
- Black Death Mutant Gene Resists AIDS, Say Scientists (Virus) [01/04/2005]
- Bubonic Plague Traced To Ancient Egypt (Black Death) [03/11/2004]
- The Trials of Thomas Butler [12/20/2003]
- The viruses are out there, and they are out to get us [02/27/2003]
- Medieval Black Death Was Probably Not Bubonic Plague [04/15/2002]
- Black Death 'Was Not Plague' Say Experts [04/12/2002]
56
posted on
09/24/2023 5:02:54 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-56 last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson