Reconstructing the 6th century plague from a victim

(Molecular Biology and Evolution (Oxford University Press)) Scientists based in Germany, including Michal Feldman, Johannes Krause, Michaela Harbeck and colleagues have confirmed the bacterial culprit of the plague from sixth century skeletons found in Altenerding, an ancient southern German burial site near Munich. The Altenerding genome dates back to the very beginning of the plague. They have generated the first high-coverage genome of the bacterial agent responsible for the Justinian plague, in addition to revealing new insights in the molecular evolution of Yersinia pestis since the Byzantine era.

from EurekAlert! - Archaeology http://ift.tt/2bYpAne