The Black Death began in 1338 in present-day Kyrgyzstan, according to new research.
The outbreak of bubonic plague devastated the world between 1346 and 1353 and is the deadliest pandemic in human history, killing up to 200 million people.
Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is spread by fleas, but it can also take a secondary form in which it is spread from person to person through droplets in the air.
In 1347 he entered the Mediterranean for the first time with ships carrying goods from the territories of the Golden Horde in the Black Sea.
The deadly disease then spread to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, taking up to 60 percent of the population in a large-scale outbreak that earned it the nickname Black Death.
The first wave further extended to a 500-year-old pandemic, known as the second plague pandemic, which lasted until the early 19th century.
The origin of the second plague pandemic is the subject of debate. One of the most popular theories supports its source in East Asia, especially in China.
However, the only archeological finds available so far come from Central Asia, near Lake Issyk-Kul, in present-day Kyrgyzstan.
The results show that an epidemic devastated the local trading community in 1338 and 1339.
Excavations nearly 140 years ago have uncovered tombstones showing that people died in those years from an unknown epidemic or “plague.”
Ever since they were first discovered, tombstones – written in Syriac – have been a cornerstone of controversy among scholars over their significance for the Black Death in Europe.
For the study, an international team of researchers analyzed ancient DNA from human remains, as well as historical and archaeological objects from two sites that were found to contain “plague” inscriptions.
The first results of the team were very encouraging, as DNA from the plague bacterium Y. pestis was identified in individuals with the year 1338 written on the tombstones.
The study’s senior author, Dr. Phil Slavin, an associate professor of history at the University of Stirling in Scotland, said: “Finally, we can show that the epidemic mentioned on the tombstones was indeed caused by the plague.
Plague skeletons have been found
Researchers have previously linked the initiation of the Black Death to the massive diversification of plague strains, the so-called Great Plague Diversity Outbreak.
But the exact date of this event cannot be determined, and it was thought to have occurred somewhere between the 10th and 14th centuries.
The research team has now collected the full genome of an ancient plague from sites in Kyrgyzstan and studied how they could be linked to the Big Bang event.
Lead author Dr Maria Spiru of the University of Tübingen in Germany said: “We have found that ancient strains from Kyrgyzstan are positioned at the heart of this massive diversification event.
“In other words, we found the source of the Black Death and we even know its exact date.
She explained that the plague was not a human disease; the bacterium survives in wild rodent populations around the world, in so-called plague reservoirs.
The ancient Central Asian strain that caused the 1338-39 epidemic around Lake Issyk-Kul must come from such a reservoir, researchers say.
Co-author Prof. Johannes Krause added: “We have found that modern strains, which are most closely related to the ancient strain, are now found in plague reservoirs around the Tien Shan Mountains, so close to where the ancient strain was found.
Prof. Krause, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, added: “This points to the origins of the ancestor of the Black Death in Central Asia.
The findings are published in the journal Nature.
SWNS
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