Probing the zooarchaeological record across time and space for ancient pathogen DNA
Zoonoses are among the greatest threats to human health, with many zoonotic pathogens believed to have emerged following the Neolithic transition. Palaeomicrobiological investigations of the zooarchaeological record hold potential to uncover the reservoirs, host ranges, and host adaptations of zoonotic pathogens in the past, but face challenges in identifying promising specimens and pathogen DNA preservation. We perform palaeopathological and genetic examinations of 346 skeletal elements from domesticated and wild animals collected from 34 Eurasian sites dating across the last six millennia. We identify 116 signatures of 29 ancient (opportunistic) pathogens and find support that palaeopathological lesions provide guidance for specimen selection. For two pathogen species, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae and Streptococcus lutetiensis, we confirm their ancient authenticity using phylogenetics, showcasing an approach to explore the relationship between ancient low-coverage genomes and their modern-day relatives. Our work presents a pathway to understanding prehistoric zoonotic diseases by integrating zooarchaeological, palaeopathological, and genetic data.
Authors
- Jana Eger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9856-6429)
- Simon Trixl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4303-3008)
- Rosalind E. Gillis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2370-7311)
- Christiana L. Scheib (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4158-8296)
- Andrey B. Belinskiy
- Meda Toderaș
- Felix M. Key (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2812-6636)
- Michal Ernée (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4847-8532)
- René Kyselý (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0788-7287)
- Norbert Benecke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2388-8594)
- Aleksander Chrószcz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9079-549X)
- David Daněček (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2208-8774)
- Marcel Keller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9668-6817)
- Casey L. Kirkpatrick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9755-6459)
- Ken Massy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7724-0702)
- Kai Kaniuth
- Vladimir Е. Maslov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4910-8317)
- Michael Hochmuth
- Alexey Kalmykov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6939-5544)
- Philipp W. Stockhammer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4702-9372)
- Jana Klementová
- Anatoli Nagler
- Dominik Poradowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4296-3174)
- Kamilla Pawłowska (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4103-4501)
- Helja Kabral (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6068-0650)
- Svend Hansen
- Ian Light-Maka
- Kirsten Bos
- Elizabeth A Nelson
- Sabine Reinhold
- Anatoly R Kantorovich
- Anne Kathrine W Runge
- Regina Uhl
Institutions
- Western University (CA)
- Southern Methodist University (US)
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- University of Basel (CH)
- Lomonosov Moscow State University (RU)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences (PL)
- East Bohemian Museum (CZ)
- State Administration of Cultural Heritage (CN)
- Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Zentrale (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (DE)
- Institute of Archaeology (RU)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Archaeology, Prague (CZ)
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (DE)
- Curt Engelhorn Centre Archaeometry (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (DE)
- Likhatchev Russian Research Institute for Cultural and Natural Heritage (RU)
- Estonian Biocentre (EE)
- University of Tartu (EE)
- Romanian Academy (RO)
- Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (PL)
- Independent University of Moscow (RU)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-04-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71543-4
- Primary Topic
- Paleopathology and ancient diseases
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00