The source of the Black Death identified in present-day Kyrgyzstan

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The Black Death, the deadliest pandemic in human history, may have first reared its ugly head in Central Eurasia, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.

The geographic origins of the devastating plague in the 14th century CE have been long-disputed, with previous research making predictions as far-ranging as western Eurasia to China.

This latest estimation draws on numerous stands of evidence including a remarkable DNA analysis of people who died in the 14th century CE around modern-day Kyrgyzstan.

Many of the tombstones in the deep Chüy Valley are inscribed in Cyrillic, explaining the graves hold the bodies of people who died of “pestilence” between 1338 and 1339 C. However, scholars have doubted they had much relevance to the Black Death since the dating was a number of years away from the established emergence of the plague outbreak in Europe. 

Genetic evidence can now prove the graves do, in fact, contain the bodies of some of the earliest known plague victims. The team extracted ancient DNA from seven individuals buried at the sites and discovered traces of the bacteria that causes the plague, Yersinia pestis, in three of the samples.

“We found that the ancient strains from Kyrgyzstan are positioned exactly at the node of this massive diversification event. In other words, we found the Black Death’s source strain and we even know its exact date [the year 1338 CE]”, said Maria Spyrou, lead author and researcher at the University of Tübingen in Germany. 

Source

[tomsches 17,550]

I thought it started because us Europeans used to throw their **** on the streets 

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5 minutes ago, tomsches said:

I thought it started because us Europeans used to throw their **** on the streets 

It spread a lot easier because of it, yea

[Helxig 45,338]

4 hours ago, tomsches said:

I thought it started because us Europeans used to throw their **** on the streets 

It spread so rapidly because of the poor standard of living and horrible hygiene practises of the times. I mean... Imagine walking through streets covered in the **** of people dying of covid, and then just going home and eating with your unwashed hands 

(also newer research shows that it likely wasn't spread by rats... just disgusting filthy humans)

[Economy 52,854]

9 hours ago, tomsches said:

I thought it started because us Europeans used to throw their **** on the streets 

I mean that would certainly help the spread lol but it didn't start in Europe, it started in Asia first...

 

In fact by some estimates more Asians died of it than Europeans bringing a racial thing into question cuz ppl care so much cuz it killed like 1/3 of Europe yet like everyone forgets the up to 200M Asians (on the upper estimates) that were also died of it