Large-scale DNA study maps 37,000 years of disease history
A new study maps infectious diseases across millennia and offers new insight into how human-animal interactions permanently transformed our health landscape.
An international research team, including archaeologists from the University of Gothenburg, has recovered ancient DNA from 214 known human pathogens in prehistoric humans from Eurasia.
The study shows, among other things, that the earliest known evidence of zoonotic diseases – illnesses transmitted from animals to humans, like COVID in recent times – dates back to around 6,500 years ago, with such diseases becoming more widespread approximately 5,000 years ago. It is the largest study to date on the history of infectious diseases and has just been published in the scientific journal Nature.
Archaeologists Karl-Göran Sjögren and Kristian Kristiansen from the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Gothenburg are co-authors of the study.
"The work began in 2018, when I was awarded funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden at SciLifeLab, to work with researchers at the University of Gothenburg and Martin Sikora from the University of Copenhagen to develop the methodology for mapping pathogens, which we have then used for all our data", says Kristian Kristiansen.
Farming meant a new era of diseases
The researchers analyzed DNA from over 1,300 prehistoric individuals, some up to 37,000 years old. The ancient bones and teeth have provided a unique insight into the development of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
”The results suggest that humans’ close cohabitation with domesticated animals played a decisive role in the spread of these diseases, says Karl-Göran Sjögren, co-author and archaeologist at the University of Gothenburg, who is leading the research project; A multi-species study of biological and social relatedness in Neolithic Sweden
In recent years, archaeologists at the University of Gothenburg have collaborated with geneticists from the University of Copenhagen, publishing several groundbreaking findings in the prestigious journal Nature. This particular study was led by Professor Eske Willerslev at the University of Copenhagen.
“We’ve long suspected that the transition to farming and animal husbandry opened the door to a new era of disease – now DNA shows us that it happened at least 6,500 years ago,” says Professor Eske Willerslev. “These infections didn’t just cause illness – they may have contributed to population collapse, migration, and genetic adaptation.”
Could have implications for future vaccines
The findings could be significant for the development of vaccines and for understanding how diseases arise and mutate over time.
“If we understand what happened in the past, it can help us prepare for the future, where many of the newly emerging infectious diseases are predicted to originate from animals,” says Associate Professor Martin Sikora, the study’s first author.
“Mutations that were successful in the past are likely to reappear. This knowledge is important for future vaccines, as it allows us to test whether current vaccines provide sufficient coverage or whether new ones need to be developed due to mutations,” adds Eske Willerslev.
The study was made possible by funding from the Lundbeck Foundation and Riksbankens jubileumsfond.
Read the study “The spatiotemporal distribution of human pathogens in ancient Eurasia” in Nature. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09192-
Text: Cecilia Sjöberg
Video interview: Nicolas Delagado
In the study, the researchers found 214 pathogens. A remarkable finding is the world’s oldest genetic trace of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis, identified in a 5,500-year-old sample. The plague is estimated to have killed between one-quarter and one-half of Europe’s population during the Middle Ages.
