Christianity ‘turned to archaeology to promote bible’ says expert
The introduction of a plague could have caused a huge die-off among the population of Siberia 4,000 years ago, new research has found. Archaeologists from Stockholm University found evidence of a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, which causes plague, in skeletons of the region.
The research, published in the journal Science Advances, found evidence in two sets of skeletons.
One of the denizens dates back 4,400 years ago and the other 3,800 years ago.
The finding means the populations were impacted on two occasions, and possibly resulted in the collapse of the civilisation.
Emrah Kirdök, a former postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University and currently Lecturer at Mersin University in Turkey, said: “Despite a need for more data, our discovery of the decrease in effective population size that coincided with the appearance of Yersinia pestis points to a possible presence of a prehistoric plague – possibly a pandemic.
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“However, this is just as an educated guess which needs to wait for confirmation.”
The skeletons were discovered in Eastern Siberia, and could have changed the genetic make-up of the northeastern peoples who would eventually trek onward to the Americas.
The research carried out by evolutionary geneticists Gülşah Merve Kilinç and Anders Götherström does not indicate how the plague bacterium might have reached Siberia.
Dr Kilinc, a lecturer at the Department of Bioinformatics at Hacettepe University in Ankara and formerly a postdoc researcher at Stockholm University, said: “It is intriguing that our data reveals complex and contrasting patterns of demographic change in one of the least populated regions on Earth; including notable gene flow and at the same time a genetic continuity without major demographic changes in the two areas around Lake Baikal.”
But the team said there was a decline in genetic diversity following the plague outbreaks.
This would indicate there was less selection among mates. Ultimately, this would have narrowed down the gene pool.
However, the team do note the version of plague may not have been virulent.
If so, the civilisation would not have collapsed, the researchers said.
Jan Storå, Professor at Osteoarchaeological Research Laboratory at the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies at Stockholm University, said: “This is the first genetic evidence of a link between a Neolithic period human group in Yakutia and the later Palaeo-Inuit groups, and this will inspire to new of research on the demographic development.”
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