Date: 9/12/2018 17:34:17
From: dv
ID: 1314100
Subject: Earliest European Plague sample
The fearsome disease known as the plague might help explain a mystery that has puzzled scientists for years.
Between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, Neolithic farming communities in Europe dramatically declined, and there is still no definitive answer as to why. Now, however, a team of researchers in Sweden has found a new strain of plague that they say may have been partially responsible.
The research, published in the journal Cell, describes the discovery of the oldest-known sample of plague bacteria in the 5,000-year-old genetic material of a 20-year-old woman found in a rural farming community.
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