Researchers believe they have discovered the origins of the Black Death, more than 600 years after it killed tens of millions in Europe, Asia and north Africa.
The mid-14th Century health catastrophe is one of the most significant disease episodes in human history.
But despite years of research, scientists had been unable to pinpoint where the bubonic plague began.
Now analysis suggests it was in Kyrgyzstan, central Asia, in the 1330s.
A research team from the University of Stirling in Scotland and Germany’s Max Planck Institute and University of Tubingen analysed ancient DNA samples from the teeth of skeletons in cemeteries near Lake Issyk Kul, in Kyrgyzstan.
They chose the area after noting a significant spike in burials there in 1338 and 1339.
Dr Maria Spyrou, a researcher at the University of Tubingen, said the team sequenced DNA from seven skeletons.
They analysed the teeth because, according to Dr Spyrou…
View original post 277 more words
History of Sorts 