Repeated plague infections across six generations of Neolithic Farmers

This study uses population-scale ancient genomics to investigate the cause of the Neolithic decline in Europe, focusing on the role of plague. Analysis of 108 Scandinavian Neolithic individuals reveals widespread plague infection (at least 17% of the population), occurring in three distinct events over 120 years. Genomic analysis of the prehistoric plague strains reveals ancestral genomic variation present in *Yersinia pseudotuberculosis*, indicating a possible faecal-oral transmission route. The study also reconstructs familial relationships, revealing social structures and burial practices within Neolithic communities and suggests plague, alongside other factors, could have contributed to the Neolithic decline.

Frederik Valeur Seersholm, Karl-Göran Sjögren, Julia Koelman, Malou Blank, Emma M. Svensson, Jacqueline Starling, Magdalena Fraser, Thomaz Pinotti, Hugh McColl, Charleen Gaunitz, Tatiana Ruiz-Bayóa, Lena Granath, Berenice Villegas-Ramirez, Anders Fischer, T. Douglas Price, Morten E. Allentoft, Astrid K. N. Iversen, Tony Axelsson, Torbjörn Ahlström, Anders Götherström, Jan Storå, Kristian Kristiansen, Eske Willerslev, Mattias Jakobsson, Helena Malmström, Martin Sikora