The Black Death Was History's Most Lethal Plague. Now Scientists Say They Know Where It Started

CBC ^ | Sep 23, 2023 | Isabelle Gallant

[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

[nickcarraway]

The headstone of the believer Sanmaq, from a graveyard in the Lake Issyk-Kul region of present-day Kyrgyzstan. The epitaph on his headstone, written in Syriac, reads: 'In the Year 1649 (AD 1337–8), died of pestilence (mawtānā).' This photo was taken during the original excavations in the late 19th century. (A.S. Leybin)

In the late 19th century, archeologists excavated this cemetery in the Chu-Valley of Kyrgyzstan within the foothills of the Tian Shan mountains. (A.S. Leybin)

A gravestone from the medieval cemetery in Kyrgyzstan. Researchers found stones like this with engravings identifying victims of 'pestilence' from 1338 and 1339. (Pier-Giorgio Borbone)

The medieval bubonic plague outbreak known as the Black Death may have killed up to 200 million people. This miniature by Pierart dou Tielt (c. 1353) illustrates the people of Tournai in Belgium burying plague victims. (Pierart dou Tielt )

[CatOwner]

Wuhan?

[Migraine]

Great post; thanks for the pics!

[MIchaelTArchangel]

I suppose Issyk was not a Kul a place as the Kyrgyzstanis thought it was.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

With the CDC? Did they start mail-in voting and mask wearing? Did they try to flatten the curve?

[butlerweave]

The Climate Cult is the Plague of today

[null and void]

Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan? Not Wuhan?

[nickcarraway]

YW

[aculeus]

“the Black Death may have killed up to 200 million people”

Good grief!

[Fiji Hill]

"Those gravestones...stated very precisely that the cause of the death of those individuals was 'pestilence."

"Pestilence" was the term used at the time. The term "black death" was coined in the eighteenth century.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The [Kyrgyzstan] graveyard had clearly marked and dated gravestones that showed an unusually high number of burials in the years 1338 and 1339.

Their gravestones are legible after almost 700 years? How come most gravestones in the US before the mid 1800s are illegible?

"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? You ain't pinning that on us, bub!! No way, Jose. We've been here quietly minding our own business. Go see what those Chinese fellas have to say."

(I spotted these guys way up high on Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler, BC a couple weeks ago).

[Fiji Hill]

It was really bound to start with local marmots, because the marmot is the most prevalent type of plague-carrying rodent in that region.

In this country, marmots are also known as groundhogs or woodchucks.

[mass55th]

It was carried by body lice too, which was very prevalent in those days, even during the London plague of 1665.

[j.havenfarm]

Damned marmots. I always suspected those guys

[oldvirginian]

I’ve never bought into the flea bite theory.
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.
In the time period and place in question it was common for the poorest of the poor to subsist on poor diets with marmot making up the bulk of their meat.

Because their diets were poor those people had compromised immune systems. What does a disease do when it meets a compromised immune system for long periods of time? It gets stronger until it can overcome even healthy immune systems, just like ailments today are becoming drug resistant versions of the original.

Even today marmots are considered a delicacy among the poor in the steppes of Eurasia. As a boy the youth who would become Genghis Khan had to hunt marmots to see that his mother and siblings were fed.

[Rural_Michigan]

Nice marmot

[Carriage Hill]

1st & 3rd rock carvings look like Templar Crosses:

[nagant]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050325234239.htm

~~~~~
Biologists at the University of Liverpool have discovered how the plagues of the Middle Ages have made around 10% of Europeans resistant to HIV.
~~~~~

[Right Brother]

Like Covid, the black death came from China. Sorry to say, but China is a cesspool of filth. Always has been.

[ckilmer]

One thing about the black death of the middle ages is that it killed a smaller percentage of the population of europe than the diseases of europe and africa kill the populations of the americas. The black death killed maybe 60% of the population of Europe where as the 95@% of the population of the new world was killed by european and african diseases.

that suggested that europe already had some immunity to the plague. how did that happen. Scientists got their answer in the last couple years. Somewhere around 2800 bc the first black death visited europe. It also came from central asia. It wiped out large sections of the european population which was a combination of western hunter gatherers and anatolian farmers. Right after that steppe herders from modern ukraine moved in and over a 1000 years replaced all the men of europe. so that male with european ancestry traces his lineage back to these people.