Disease may explain the rapid shift in the genetic makeup of European populations as a result of Yamnaya migration some 5,000 years ago.
The Justinian Plague
The discovery of a mass grave in the Jordanian city of Jerash (ancient Gerasa) has provided evidence of the impact on the population of the Justinian Plague. A newly published study of the burial site has revealed that at least 230 individuals were hastily buried on top of each other, rather than in individual graves, within the city’s abandoned hippodrome. The burials occurred within a short period of time – measured in days rather than weeks or years – in the mid-6th or early 7th century. The authors of the paper, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2026.106473), describe this as ‘rapid, high-density deposition, with minimal funerary structuring, that closely parallels catastrophic plague pits of the later medieval period, making Jerash a uniquely well-preserved example from Late Antiquity’.
Some have calculated that the population of Gerasa reached a peak of c.25,000 in the 3rd century AD, with this declining to fewer than 10,000 by the end of the 6th century. If so, the burials represent about 1.5% of the city’s population at the time. Using biomolecular techniques, the multidisciplinary team from the University of South Florida confirmed that the cause of death was Yersinia pestis, or bubonic plague.
