Scientists from Kiel on the trail of diseases in the early Middle Ages

DNA from 1300 year old skeletons

Researchers from Kiel decode dangerous pathogens

What else can ancient bones tell us? A lot, even 1300 years later. Doctoral student Joanna Bonczarowska (front) examined the DNA of 70 skeletons from an early medieval settlement together with Prof. Almut Nebel (left) and Prof. Ben Krause-Kyora. At the time, dangerous pathogens lurked around every corner.

© What: Ulf Dahl

How sick were people in the early Middle Ages? Researchers at the University of Kiel are now decoding the DNA from 1,300-year-old skeletons. Dangerous pathogens lurked around every corner back then. How the results can be transferred to the present day.

Like. Our bones can tell amazing stories. Even centuries later. Stories of death and dying, of inadequate sanitation and malnutrition, of plagues and dangerous pathogens. Scientists from Kiel University have now examined the skeletons of an early medieval settlement. The research results were recently published in the international journal “Genome Biology” and attracted a lot of attention, especially in America. What’s so exciting regarding ancient bones? And what do they have to do with the current corona pandemic?

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