DECRYPTION – To clear up this mystery, scientists carried out DNA analyzes on human remains.
The Black Death swept through Europe between 1347 and 1353. Six years, which was enough to decimate up to 50% of the European population. The origin of this disaster remains debated, but a team of scientists from the Max-Planck Institute in Leipzig (Germany) publishes new elements this Wednesday in the journal Nature . Contrary to what has long been favored, China would not be the initial focus of the disease. You actually have to look further west, to Kyrgyzstan, to see the first traces of the damage caused by the bacteria. Yersinia pestisresponsible for the disease.
«This work confirms the clusters of clues accumulated in recent years., judge Étienne Patin, researcher in the human evolutionary genetics unit at the Institut Pasteur. Scientists studied archaeological remains discovered at the sites of Kara-Djigash and Burana, located in the Chu Valley, near Lake Issyk Kul, in present-day Kyrgyzstan. “Of the…