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The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia

Sikora, Martin ; Canteri, Elisabetta ; Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio ; Oskolkov, Nikolay LU ; Ågren, Rasmus ; Hansson, Lena ; Irving-Pease, Evan K. ; Mühlemann, Barbara ; Holtsmark Nielsen, Sofie and Scorrano, Gabriele , et al. (2025) In Nature 643(8073). p.1011-1019
Abstract

Infectious diseases have had devastating effects on human populations throughout history, but important questions about their origins and past dynamics remain1. To create an archaeogenetic-based spatiotemporal map of human pathogens, we screened shotgun-sequencing data from 1,313 ancient humans covering 37,000 years of Eurasian history. We demonstrate the widespread presence of ancient bacterial, viral and parasite DNA, identifying 5,486 individual hits against 492 species from 136 genera. Among those hits, 3,384 involve known human pathogens2, many of which had not previously been identified in ancient human remains. Grouping the ancient microbial species according to their likely reservoir and type of... (More)

Infectious diseases have had devastating effects on human populations throughout history, but important questions about their origins and past dynamics remain1. To create an archaeogenetic-based spatiotemporal map of human pathogens, we screened shotgun-sequencing data from 1,313 ancient humans covering 37,000 years of Eurasian history. We demonstrate the widespread presence of ancient bacterial, viral and parasite DNA, identifying 5,486 individual hits against 492 species from 136 genera. Among those hits, 3,384 involve known human pathogens2, many of which had not previously been identified in ancient human remains. Grouping the ancient microbial species according to their likely reservoir and type of transmission, we find that most groups are identified throughout the entire sampling period. Zoonotic pathogens are only detected from around 6,500 years ago, peaking roughly 5,000 years ago, coinciding with the widespread domestication of livestock3. Our findings provide direct evidence that this lifestyle change resulted in an increased infectious disease burden. They also indicate that the spread of these pathogens increased substantially during subsequent millennia, coinciding with the pastoralist migrations from the Eurasian Steppe4,5.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature
volume
643
issue
8073
pages
9 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:40634616
  • scopus:105010272872
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
10.1038/s41586-025-09192-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.
id
49f4bc4d-fc49-4a95-a314-949333aaa9bf
date added to LUP
2025-12-08 15:04:10
date last changed
2025-12-08 15:04:59
@article{49f4bc4d-fc49-4a95-a314-949333aaa9bf,
  abstract     = {{<p>Infectious diseases have had devastating effects on human populations throughout history, but important questions about their origins and past dynamics remain<sup>1</sup>. To create an archaeogenetic-based spatiotemporal map of human pathogens, we screened shotgun-sequencing data from 1,313 ancient humans covering 37,000 years of Eurasian history. We demonstrate the widespread presence of ancient bacterial, viral and parasite DNA, identifying 5,486 individual hits against 492 species from 136 genera. Among those hits, 3,384 involve known human pathogens<sup>2</sup>, many of which had not previously been identified in ancient human remains. Grouping the ancient microbial species according to their likely reservoir and type of transmission, we find that most groups are identified throughout the entire sampling period. Zoonotic pathogens are only detected from around 6,500 years ago, peaking roughly 5,000 years ago, coinciding with the widespread domestication of livestock<sup>3</sup>. Our findings provide direct evidence that this lifestyle change resulted in an increased infectious disease burden. They also indicate that the spread of these pathogens increased substantially during subsequent millennia, coinciding with the pastoralist migrations from the Eurasian Steppe<sup>4,5</sup>.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sikora, Martin and Canteri, Elisabetta and Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio and Oskolkov, Nikolay and Ågren, Rasmus and Hansson, Lena and Irving-Pease, Evan K. and Mühlemann, Barbara and Holtsmark Nielsen, Sofie and Scorrano, Gabriele and Allentoft, Morten E. and Valeur Seersholm, Frederik and Schroeder, Hannes and Gaunitz, Charleen and Stenderup, Jesper and Vinner, Lasse and Jones, Terry C. and Nystedt, Björn and Sjögren, Karl Göran and Parkhill, Julian and Fugger, Lars and Racimo, Fernando and Kristiansen, Kristian and Iversen, Astrid K.N. and Willerslev, Eske}},
  issn         = {{0028-0836}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{8073}},
  pages        = {{1011--1019}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature}},
  title        = {{The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09192-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41586-025-09192-8}},
  volume       = {{643}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}