Scientists have found the location where the Black Plague started.
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The medieval bubonic plague was first recorded in the 14th century and was the start of a near 500-year-long wave of killer diseases termed the Second Plague Pandemic 🌍🪦 https://t.co/MheFghJA2S
— Metro (@MetroUK) June 16, 2022
But researchers said they believe the Black Death first originated in North Kyrgyzstan in the late 1330s 👉🇰🇬
— Metro (@MetroUK) June 16, 2022
They were drawn to these sites after identifying a huge spike in the number of burials there in 1338 and 1339 🪦📈
— Metro (@MetroUK) June 16, 2022
The team found the cemeteries at Kara-Djigach and Burana had already been excavated in the late 1880s, with about 30 skeletons taken from the graves.
Part of the work also involved studying the historic diaries of the original excavations in order to match the individual skeletons to their headstones, carefully translating the inscriptions, which were written in the Syriac language. pic.twitter.com/I0ZpilqISn
— Metro (@MetroUK) June 16, 2022
🗣️ ‘Most excitingly, we found aDNA of the plague bacterium in three individuals.’
— Metro (@MetroUK) June 16, 2022
The origin of the Black Death has been debated by historians and medieval chroniclers ever since its appearance in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa 675 years ago 👇 https://t.co/MheFghJA2S
