Black Death Traced To Issyk-Kul

In 2022, researchers reported that the Black Death likely originated near Lake Issyk-Kul in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, a Silk Road stop. They tested DNA from people buried in 1338 graves labeled for “pestilence” and identified Yersinia pestis in the remains. The strain they found sits near the ancestral branch that later fueled the wider Black Death outbreak. This discovery indicates that the plague reached the region eight years before it caused widespread devastation across Eurasia.

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