Ancient DNA identifies 5,500-year-old Siberian plague outbreak (opens in new tab)

Researchers analyzing ancient DNA from hunter-gatherer cemeteries near Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia identified the oldest known outbreak-level evidence of plague, dating to about 5,500 years ago, in a study published June 17 in Nature. The team detected Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, in 18 of 46 people from four burial sites, including many children and adolescents whose remains showed no obvious signs of trauma or violence. The discovery pushes evidence of lethal p...