BUBONIC plague began in ancient Egypt, not Asia, according to a reinterpretation of archaeological and historical data.
Researchers have argued that the disease emerged among Asian gerbils in the 6th century AD, but evidence to support the idea has been scarce. Now Eva Panagiotakopulu at the University of Sheffield, UK, has suggested that it appeared much earlier, in ancient Egypt (Journal of Biogeography, vol 31, p 269). She believes the disease was originally carried by Nile rats, and then infected black rats introduced through trade with India. Black rats live in closer contact with humans, so this allowed the plague to jump to people when cities appeared, in around 3500 BC.
Nile rats and black rats have been found together in archaeological digs dating to around the right time, Panagiotakopulu says. She has also found human fleas 鈥� another vector of the disease 鈥� in a settlement at Amarna, Egypt, from the 14th century BC.
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Mark Spigelman, an expert in the origins of disease at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, says that the hypothesis is interesting, but there just isn鈥檛 enough data to settle the argument. He adds that if she is correct, it makes the absence of mass plague graves in Egypt puzzling.