Ancient bacterial DNA hints Europe’s Black Death started in Central Asia
Archaeological and genetic data from a 1330s graveyard point to the bubonic plague’s origin
![a drawing of the citizens of Tournai, Belgium digging graves and carrying caskets during the Black Death](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/061422_bb_plague_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Citizens of Tournai, Belgium, are illustrated here burying victims of the Black Death. A bacterial precursor of strains that caused the medieval plague emerged in Central Asia during the early 1300s, a new study finds.
Pierart dou Tielt (fl. 1340-1360)/Wikimedia Commons