Early divergent strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia 5,000 years ago.

The bacteria Yersinia pestis is the etiological agent of plague and has caused human pandemics with millions of deaths in historic times. How and when it originated remains contentious. Here, we report the oldest direct evidence of Yersinia pestis identified by ancient DNA in human teeth from Asia and Europe dating from 2,800 to 5,000 years ago. By sequencing the genomes, we find that these ancient plague strains are basal to all known Yersinia pestis. We find the origins of the Yersinia pestis lineage to be at least two times older than previous estimates. We also identify a temporal sequence of genetic changes that lead to increased virulence and the emergence of the bubonic plague. Our results show that plague infection was endemic in the human populations of Eurasia at least 3,000 years before any historical recordings of pandemics.

Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) 87Sr/86Sr isotope data from scythian Iron age barrows in Altai, Russia.

This paper reports LA-ICP-MS 87Sr/86Sr isotopic data collected from archaeological human remains uncovered in Manzherok region, Altai Republic, Russian Federation ("Mobility of nomads in central Asia: chronology and 87Sr/86Sr isotope evidence from the Pazyryk barrows of northern Altai, Russia" [1]. The skeletal remains derive from Scythian barrows dated to 6th - 3rd century BC located at Chultukov Log 1 cemetery. The Chultukov Log cemetery, located approximately 470km south of Novosibirsk, is considered the biggest nomadic burial ground in the Upper Altai and the Sayan Mountains. To enrich the information on prehistoric mobility of ancient nomadic populations in Central Asia, strontium isotopic data were collected using a Nu plasma (II) MC-ICP-MS equipped with ESI NWR193-based laser ablation system from premolar teeth of 8 adult individuals (4 males and 4 females), associated mainly with the Pazyryk culture. Additionally, we report bioavailable strontium data from single Equus caballus specimen (found at Chultukov Log 9 settlement) from Manzherok territory. In this study we have successfully applied and tested new in-depth decontamination protocol for total (<95%) removal of contaminants, necrotic tissue and dental calculus in archaeological materials based on a clinical irrigation procedure with NaOCl and EDTA. Strontium LA-ICP-MS 87Sr/86Sr isotopic data presented in this paper were obtained from prehistoric human teeth previously decontaminated according to this method. These data will provide valuable resources for isotopic analyses of prehistoric transportation systems in Central Asia, including residential mobility of ancient nomads inhabiting steppe zone, Mongolia and NW China.