3,000-Year-Old Mummy With Bubonic Plague DNA Challenges Black Deaths Origins

An Egyptian mummy, over 3,000 years old, may have died from the bubonic plague, providing the first genetic evidence of the disease outside the Eurasian continent, new research shows. The finding challenges the long-held narrative of the Black Death's origins and its spread.

According to Popular Science, the mummy, housed in the Egyptian Museum of Turin, Italy, is believed to be from the late Bronze Age, around 3,290 years ago. Researchers analysed the remains and identified traces of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the bubonic plague, in the bone tissue. This molecular evidence points to a severe, advanced case of the disease at the time of death.

In the abstract, the researchers wrote, “This is the first reported prehistoric Y. pestis genome outside Eurasia providing molecular evidence for the presence of plague in ancient Egypt, although we cannot infer how widespread the disease was during this time.”

The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, is one of history's deadliest diseases. It typically spreads through fleas that infest rodents, which then bite humans, transmitting the bacteria. It primarily targets the lymphatic system, with initial flu-like symptoms appearing within days of infection. But the disease quickly escalates into a deadlier and often fatal progression.

As the infection spreads, lymph nodes in the groin, armpit and neck swell painfully, accompanied by a high fever, chills, and, in severe cases, seizures. Vomiting of blood follows, and the swollen lymph nodes develop into buboes that may eventually rupture. The body also experiences internal bleeding, leading to extensive bruising and tissue death, which gave the plague its infamous ‘Black Death' label. Without effective antibiotics, the disease proves fatal in 30-90 per cent of cases.

While the bubonic plague is most famously associated with the devastating 14th Century outbreak in Europe, where it claimed the lives of around 2.5 crore people between 1,347 and 1,351, outbreaks were also recorded in China, Mongolia and India. The existence of plague in Egypt has long been speculated by scientists, but until now, no solid evidence was found.

Previous studies have found clues pointing to the plague's presence in ancient Egypt. In 2004, researchers discovered millennia-old fleas along the banks of the Nile, and a 3,500-year-old medical text described a bubo filled with petrified pus, hinting at the plague's spread by rodents on boats. But DNA evidence like that found in the mummy was needed to confirm the disease's presence.