Genome Evidence Points to Plague in Stone Age European Population Crash

Around 5,000 years ago, the population in northern Europe collapsed, decimating Stone Age farming communities across the region. The cause of this calamity, called the Neolithic decline, has remained a matter of debate. New research based on DNA obtained from human bones and teeth excavated from ancient burial tombs in Scandinavia—seven from an area in Sweden called Falbygden, one from coastal Sweden close to Gothenburg, and one from Denmark—suggests disease, specifically the plague, may have driven the Neolithic decline. The human remains came from a megalithic tomb type built of giant stones, called passage graves. The remains of 108 people—62 males, 45 females, and one undetermined—were studied. Eighteen of them—17 percent—were infected with plague at the time of death....