Embargoed until:
Publicly released:
2024-07-11 01:00
Repeated outbreaks of plague may have contributed to the decline in Neolithic populations in Scandinavia, according to Australian and international researchers, who analysed ancient DNA from more than 100 Neolithic people over six generations. The team found evidence of the plague-carrying bacterium Yersinia pestis in 17% of the people studied, and the analysis suggests that the plague spread through the community in at least three distinct waves, over a period of around 120 years. The researchers believe that these plague waves may have contributed to the collapse of Neolithic populations in many parts of Europe between 5,300 and 4,900 years before the present, known as the Neolithic decline.
Journal/conference: Nature
Link to research (DOI): 10.1038/s41586-024-07651-2
Organisation/s: Curtin University, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Funder: This study was supported by the Lundbeck Foundation (no. R322-2019-
2610 to F.V.S.) and L. J. Hägglunds Stiftelse. Furthermore, the research at the University of Copenhagen was carried out under the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, which is
supported by the the Lundbeck Foundation (nos. R302-2018-1799 2155 and R155-2013-16338),
the Novo Nordisk Foundation (no. NNF18SA0035006), the Wellcome Trust (no. UNS69906),
the Carlsberg Foundation (no. CF18-0024), the Danish National Research Foundation (no.
44113220) and the University of Copenhagen (KU2016 programme). The research at Uppsala
University was supported by The Swedish Research Council (nos. 2013-1905 to M.J., A.G. and
J.S. and 2017-02503 to H.M.), Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (no. M13-0904:1 to M.J., A.G. and J.S.)
and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation (Atlas of Ancient Human Genomes in Sweden
project to M.J., A.G. and J.S). Computations and data handling were enabled by resources
provided by the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing at the Uppsala Multidisciplinary
Center for Advanced Computational Science, partially funded by the Swedish Research
Council through grant agreement no. 2018-05973. Sequencing was performed by The
National Genomics Infrastructure Uppsala. Investigations at Frälsegården were funded by
Länsstyrelsen Västra Götaland and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, grant no. P2006-0011:1-E.
Media release
From: Springer Nature
Ancient genomics: Neolithic farmers hit hard by the plague *IMAGES* Repeated outbreaks of plague may have contributed to the decline in Neolithic populations in Scandinavia, a Nature paper suggests. The analysis of ancient DNA from more than 100 individuals sheds light on the fate of these farmers, as well as offering a snapshot into their intimate family life.Between 5,300 and 4,900 calibrated years before present (cal. bp), Neolithic populations in many parts of Europe collapsed. This is known as the Neolithic decline. Various explanations have been proposed, including the plague, but it is not known whether early outbreaks could cause wide-spread epidemics or just smaller, isolated events.Frederik Valeur Seersholm, Martin Sikora and colleagues analysed ancient DNA from 108 Scandinavian Neolithic individuals, spanning six generations, from eight megalithic graves and one stone cist from Sweden and Denmark, respectively. The plague-carrying bacterium Yersinia pestis was widespread, found in at least 17% of all individuals sequenced. The analysis suggests that the plague spread through the community in at least three distinct waves, over a period of around 120 years. The first two waves were small and contained, but the third was more widespread. The early plague strains also contained virulence factors, never seen in Yersinia pestis before, which could potentially be lethal. Taken together, the evidence suggests that this early version of the plague had the potential to trigger widespread epidemics and suggests that recurring epidemics may have played an important part in the Neolithic decline.In addition, the study provides an insight into Neolithic family life in Scandinavia. Four males with multiple reproductive partners were identified, but there were no instances of females with multiple partners. This suggests that social structure was patrilineal. One female was also found buried in a different tomb to her two brothers, suggesting that females sometimes moved to neighbouring groups to establish their families.