Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Black Death is the most infamous plague outbreak in recorded history, but the disease itself is far older. New discoveries in ancient DNA are transforming our understanding of Yersinia pestis. We now know a lot about the bacterium's evolution over thousands of years and its effects on Neolithic farmers. It's even been argued that Yersinia pestis was behind the Neolithic decline.
However a fascinating new study takes the story back even further. It reveals the earliest known plague outbreaks amongst hunter-gatherers living around Lake Baikal in Siberia 5,500 years ago. Using ancient DNA, archaeologists now think that Yersinia pestis originated in Central or Northeast Asia long before the rise of agriculture there.
#ancientdna #archaeology #plague
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 The Plague Before Written History
00:59 A Neolithic Mystery
02:13 The Hunter-Gatherers of Lake Baikal
05:28 Families Caught in the Outbreak
09:01 Where Did the Plague Begin?
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✨ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIALS
BlueSky: @MegalithHunter.bsky.social
✨ REFERENCES
Macleod, R., Seersholm, F.V., De Sanctis, B. et al. Lethal plague outbreaks in Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers 5,500 years ago. Nature 654, 697–705 (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10540-5
Seersholm, F.V., Sjögren, KG., Koelman, J. et al. Repeated plague infections across six generations of Neolithic Farmers. Nature 632, 114–121 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07651-2
Susat, J., Lübke, H., Immel, A., Brinker, U., Macāne, A., Meadows, J., Steer, B., Tholey, A., Zagorska, I., Gerhards, G. and Schmölcke, U., 2021. A 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer already plagued by Yersinia pestis. Cell Reports, 35(13).
Light-Maka, I., Hermes, T.R., Bianco, R.A., Semerau, L., Kosintsev, P., Alekseeva, V., Kim, D., Hanage, W.P., Herbig, A., Jeong, C. and Warinner, C., 2025. Bronze Age Yersinia pestis genome from sheep sheds light on hosts and evolution of a prehistoric plague lineage. Cell, 188(20), pp.5748-5762.
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
Google Earth
Locations
CC BY 4.0 DEED creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Figures from the paper by Macleod, R., et al (2026) referenced above.
CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Map of the spread of the Black Death, credit: Flappiefh
Marmot at Lac de Saline, credit: Giles Laurent
CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Marmot on thumbnail, credit: Inklein
The Black Death is the most infamous plague outbreak in recorded history, but the disease itself is far older. New discoveries in ancient DNA are transforming our understanding of Yersinia pestis. We now know a lot about the bacterium's evolution over thousands of years and its effects on Neolithic farmers. It's even been argued that Yersinia pestis was behind the Neolithic decline.
However a fascinating new study takes the story back even further. It reveals the earliest known plague outbreaks amongst hunter-gatherers living around Lake Baikal in Siberia 5,500 years ago. Using ancient DNA, archaeologists now think that Yersinia pestis originated in Central or Northeast Asia long before the rise of agriculture there.
#ancientdna #archaeology #plague
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 The Plague Before Written History
00:59 A Neolithic Mystery
02:13 The Hunter-Gatherers of Lake Baikal
05:28 Families Caught in the Outbreak
09:01 Where Did the Plague Begin?
✨ JOIN MY CHANNEL
youtube.com/channel/UC0Hs5t0U6Uf993Tba22YmKA/join
✨ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIALS
BlueSky: @MegalithHunter.bsky.social
✨ REFERENCES
Macleod, R., Seersholm, F.V., De Sanctis, B. et al. Lethal plague outbreaks in Lake Baikal hunter-gatherers 5,500 years ago. Nature 654, 697–705 (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10540-5
Seersholm, F.V., Sjögren, KG., Koelman, J. et al. Repeated plague infections across six generations of Neolithic Farmers. Nature 632, 114–121 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07651-2
Susat, J., Lübke, H., Immel, A., Brinker, U., Macāne, A., Meadows, J., Steer, B., Tholey, A., Zagorska, I., Gerhards, G. and Schmölcke, U., 2021. A 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer already plagued by Yersinia pestis. Cell Reports, 35(13).
Light-Maka, I., Hermes, T.R., Bianco, R.A., Semerau, L., Kosintsev, P., Alekseeva, V., Kim, D., Hanage, W.P., Herbig, A., Jeong, C. and Warinner, C., 2025. Bronze Age Yersinia pestis genome from sheep sheds light on hosts and evolution of a prehistoric plague lineage. Cell, 188(20), pp.5748-5762.
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
Google Earth
Locations
CC BY 4.0 DEED creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Figures from the paper by Macleod, R., et al (2026) referenced above.
CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Map of the spread of the Black Death, credit: Flappiefh
Marmot at Lac de Saline, credit: Giles Laurent
CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Marmot on thumbnail, credit: Inklein
