Bubonic plague first infected the British Isles almost 1,500 years ago: Genetic evidence of killer bacteria found in Medieval skeletons reveals ‘most of Anglo-Saxon England was ravaged by it’ during the 6th-century
- Previous claims of 6th-century plague in Britain had no confirming evidence
- Plague-causing bacteria found in four individuals buried in Cambridgeshire
- They ‘likely’ died from this infection as far back as 544AD, researchers claim
- Thought the rest of the British Isles would have also been ‘ravaged’ by the bacteria and is ‘comparable to the later Black Death’
The earliest ever physical evidence of bubonic plague in the British Isles has been identified by scientists.
Fresh analysis of medieval remains found at least four individuals that tested positive for Yersinia pestis who lived as far back as 544AD
The bacteria found in the bones – first uncovered almost 30 years ago in Cambridgeshire – was also responsible for the later Black Death of the 1300s.
Researchers told MailOnline it is ‘likely’, based on their dating methods, that these Britons people died of the plague during the dawn of the First Pandemic.
Previous claims of when the plague first reached Britain have been based on stories and surviving records from the era, with no genetic evidence to support it.
This latest study changes that belief and cements the role of Y. pestis and the bubonic plague in British history for almost 1,500 years.
Experts say the devastation would have been widespread and comparable to the Black Death, with ‘probably most, if not all, of Anglo-Saxon England’ ravaged.
Scroll down for video
A double burial of an adult woman and a child aged approximately 10 or 11 from the Edix Hill site which proved bubonic plague was present in the British Isles in the 6th century. ‘At least four individuals tested positive for Y. pestis, meaning that they almost certainly died of the plague,’ researchers said
A 15-year old male who died in the mid 6th-century and buried at Edix hill cemetery. Previous claims of when the plague first reached Britain have been based on stories and surviving records from the era, with no genetic evidence to support it. This genetic evidence of Y. pestis in the remains of Britons dating back to 544AD changes this
WHAT WAS THE FIRST PANDEMIC?
The bubonic plague is a condition which is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis.
For centuries it decimated European populations.
This started in the 5th century AD with the so-called Justinianic Plague.
This was the start of the ‘First Pandemic’ which endured for 200 years.
Researchers believe it swept through Europe and the British Isles and may have been just as devastating as the Black Death of the 14th century.
Co-author Marcel Keller, PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, now working at the University of Tart, told MailOnline it is ‘likely’ the disease resulted in the death of people who lived in 544AD.
Their dating methods are not guaranteed, he added, but this figure – based on radiocarbon dating and genetic analysis of some of the 149 individuals found at Edix Hill in Cambridgeshire – presents a key finding for Anglo-Saxon history.
Craig Cessford of the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, said: ‘At least four individuals tested positive for Y. pestis, meaning that they almost certainly died of the plague.
‘The total is likely to have been much higher than this, as less than 15 per cent of the skeletons have been tested so far.
‘As the Edix Hill cemetery served a small community or communities of perhaps 50 to 65 people, this must have been a major traumatic event, comparable to the later Black Death.
‘Some of the plague victims were buried individually, while others were buried in pairs, perhaps when two members of a family succumbed to the plague.
‘It is unlikely that Edix Hill is unusual in being affected by the Justinianic Plague, more probably most, if not all, of Anglo-Saxon England was ravaged by it.
‘This discovery therefore represents a major historical event that previously could only be guessed at, meaning that the story of Early Anglo-Saxon England must be rewritten.’
Researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the University of Cambridge analysed human remains from 21 sites with multiple burials, of which Edix Hill was one.
This resulted in the successful sequencing of eight complete genomes.
A victim of the plague thrown in the demolition trench of a house in the 6th or 7th century AD. It is now thought the plague was also found in the British Isles as well as mainland Europe
Another plague victim from France. Co-author Marcel Keller, PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, now working at the University of Tart, told MailOnline it is ‘likely’ the disease resulted in the death of people who lived in 544AD
Sampling of a tooth from the burial site (pictured) is a good way of finding preserved DNA from the bacteria. This was successful in this study and allowed for the completion of eight genomes across Europe
Map showing the newly published (yellow) and previously published (turquoise) genomes. Shaded areas and dots represent historically recorded outbreaks of the First Pandemic while the phylogenetic tree shows how the different strains of Y. pestis evolved and survived simultaneously during the First Pandemic
Previously, only one complete sequence had been found which was in the German town of Altenerding.
This knowledge could allow historians and geneticists to re-write the history books of Anglo-Saxon Britain as well as our understanding of the plague’s history and evolution.
The newly discovered genomes revealed that there were multiple, closely related strains of Y. pestis circulating during the 200 years of the First Pandemic, some possibly at the same times and in the same regions.
This variety of strains of the disease allowed researchers to assess the diversity of the Y. Pestis bacteria during the First Pandemic.
Mr Keller said: ‘The lineage likely emerged in Central Asia several hundred years before the First Pandemic, but we interpret the current data as insufficient to resolve the origin of the Justinianic Plague as a human epidemic.’
They also found that the First Pandemic’s strains had a unique genetic marker which is almost identical to that seen in the late stages of the Second Pandemic some 800-1000 years later.
‘This is a possible example of convergent evolution, meaning that these Y. pestis strains independently evolved similar characteristics,’ explains co-author Maria Spyrou of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
‘Such changes may reflect an adaptation to a distinct ecological niche in Western Eurasia where the plague was circulating during both pandemics.’
The full findings of the study were published in the journal PNAS.
WHAT CAUSED EUROPE’S BUBONIC PLAGUES?
The plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, was the cause of some of the world’s deadliest pandemics, including the Justinian Plague, the Black Death, and the major epidemics that swept through China in the late 1800s.
The disease continues to affect populations around the world today.
The Black Death of 1348 famously killed half of the people in London within 18 months, with bodies piled five-deep in mass graves.
When the Great Plague of 1665 hit, a fifth of people in London died, with victims shut in their homes and a red cross painted on the door with the words ‘Lord have mercy upon us’.
The pandemic spread from Europe through the 14th and 19th centuries – thought to come from fleas which fed on infected rats before biting humans and passing the bacteria to them.
But modern experts challenge the dominant view that rats caused the incurable disease.
Experts point out that rats were not that common in northern Europe, which was hit equally hard by plague as the rest of Europe, and that the plague spread faster than humans might have been exposed to their fleas.
Most people would have had their own fleas and lice, when the plague arrived in Europe in 1346, because they bathed much less often.
Source: Read Full Article