Researchers have found the oldest strain of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria behind the plague that caused the Black Death, in the remains of a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer.
This finding pushes the appearance of Y. pestis back 2,000 years further than previously thought.
According to genetic analysis, this ancient strain was likely less contagious and not as deadly as its medieval version.
The hunter-gatherer who carried the plague was one of two people whose skeletons researchers excavated in the late 1800s in present-day Latvia. The remains of the two individuals then went missing until 2011, when they were located in the collection of German physician and anthropologist Rudolph Virchow.

Researchers conducting a genetic analysis of a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer have found the oldest strain of Y. pestis, the bacteria behind the plague.

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