A 5,000-year-old mass grave harbors the oldest plague bacteria ever found
An ancient woman’s teeth might help reveal how the deadly disease got its start
![mass grave](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/120518_BB_early-plague_feat.jpg?fit=860%2C460&ssl=1)
PLAGUED BONES Bacterial DNA recovered from a Scandinavian woman buried in this mass grave around 5,000 years ago could yield clues to the origins of the plague.
Karl-Göran Sjögren/Univ. of Gothenburg