The New York Times Feb. 10, 2022
Did the ‘Black Death’ Really Kill Half of Europe? New Research Says No.
by Carl Zimmer
Looking at ancient deposits of pollen as markers of agricultural activity, researchers found that the Black Death caused a patchwork of destruction in Europe.
Read more at The New York Times
Behind the headlines
Research findings and data from the National Library of Medicine
PubMed articles
Nat Ecol Evol FEB. 10, 2022
Palaeoecological data indicates land-use changes across Europe linked to spatial heterogeneity in mortality during the Black Death pandemic
A Izdebski et al
The Black Death (1347-1352 CE) is the most renowned pandemic in human history, believed by many to have killed half of Europe's population. However, despite advances in a …
Am J Hum Biol JAN. 1, 2018
Stress, sex, and plague: Patterns of developmental stress and survival in pre- and post-Black Death London
SN DeWitte
These results might reflect variation between the sexes in sensitivity to stressors, the effects of nutrition on pubertal timing, disproportionate access to dietary resou …
Econ Hist Rev JAN. 1, 2019
The 'light touch' of the Black Death in the Southern Netherlands: an urban trick?
J Roosen et al
Although the fanciful notion that the Black Death bypassed the Low Countries has long been rejected, nevertheless a persistent view remains that the Low Countries experie …
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How the Black Death shaped human evolution
Genetic variants that helped the immune system fight the Black Death may have had the side effect of increasing susceptibility to autoimmune diseases.
NPR News JUNE 30, 2022
Scientists say they've solved a 700-year-old mystery: Where and when Black Death began
For centuries, scientists and historians have wondered where the Black Death — the deadliest pandemic in recorded history — came from. New research sheds light on the ancient disease.
The New York Times JUNE 15, 2022
Where Did the Black Death Begin? DNA Detectives Find a Key Clue.
By fishing shards of bacterial DNA from the teeth of bodies in a cemetery, researchers found the starting point for the plague that devastated Eurasia, they say.
CNN News JUNE 15, 2022
DNA analysis reveals source of Black Death | CNN
Scientists say they have discovered exactly when and where the plague outbreak that caused the Black Death originated.
