Scientists at the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy, have uncovered traces of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis in an ancient Egyptian mummy, shedding new light on the disease's historical spread.
An adult mummy from Egypt shows the earliest molecular evidence of the deadly Black Death, the Daily Express US reported.
During a recent study, archaeologists extracted bone tissue and intestinal contents from a mummified male, believed to date back to around 1780 BC. This period correlates to the transition from the Second Intermediate Period to the New Kingdom in ancient Egyptian history.
The extraction led to a detailed analysis using a shotgun metagenomics approach, which revealed the presence of Y. pestis DNA within the samples. This groundbreaking discovery was first announced at the European Meeting of the Paleopathology Association.
The significance of discovering Y. pestis in this mummy lies in its uniqueness; it marks the first time the bacterium responsible for the Black Death has been identified in ancient human remains outside of the typical medieval European and Asian contexts.
The researchers highlighted the advanced state of disease progression in the mummy, with the pathogen found in multiple tissue types.
Despite being a crucial finding, the exact origins of the mummy within Egypt remain unknown, and the museum has yet to provide details about the archaeological context of the find.
The presence of the plague bacterium in an ancient Egyptian context suggests that the disease may have been present thousands of years before it ravaged medieval Europe.
However, the researchers cautioned that it is unclear how widespread the disease was in ancient Egypt at the time. This uncertainty leaves room for further investigative work to determine the historical impact of the plague during that era.
The findings represent a significant step in understanding the geographical spread and historical prevalence of one of the most devastating diseases in human history.
The World Health Organization notes that instances of the plague still occur today, though they are now treatable with early detection and appropriate medication.
Michael Marks, a disease expert, explained the modern transmission dynamics of the plague, contrasting it with airborne diseases like COVID-19. He stated that the plague does not spread through air travel by infected individuals but through the movement of infected animals.
"People with plague are very sick. They aren't getting on planes basically," said Marks, emphasizing the localized nature of plague transmission in contrast to global diseases that can spread quickly through human-to-human contact.
This research not only deepens our understanding of the plague's history but also demonstrates the capability of ancient DNA studies to illuminate past human health and diseases.
The application of modern genomic technologies to study ancient diseases opens up new avenues for archaeological and historical research, allowing scientists to trace the origins and spread of diseases that have shaped human history.
The discovery in Turin could pave the way for more discoveries about how ancient civilizations were impacted by and managed epidemics, providing valuable lessons for handling pandemics in modern times.
