Last year, we reported on a study that used microbial DNA analysis of human remains to identify pathogens that may have killed soldiers in Napoleon’s army during the 1812 invasion of Russia. Two pathogens stood out: Salmonella enterica, which can cause paratyphoid fever, and Borrelia recurrentis, the bacterium transmitted by body lice that causes louse-borne relapsing fever. Both findings were consistent with historical descriptions from the period.
Ancient DNA reveals the evolution of sheeppox virus
Reprinted with the kind permission of Masters and Research Fellows, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.10.5, fol. 62v, Letters of St. Paul, Ireland/Northumbria, 700–800 AD.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Masters and Research Fellows, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Masters and Research Fellows, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Enlarged detail of the manuscript.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Masters and Research Fellows, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Masters and Research Fellows, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Another close-up view of the manuscript.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Masters and Research Fellows, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Enlarged detail of the manuscript.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Masters and Research Fellows, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Another close-up view of the manuscript.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Masters and Research Fellows, Trinity College, Cambridge.
To investigate the history of livestock disease, researchers analyzed DNA from medieval parchment held in collections at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, University College Dublin, Lambeth Palace Library, and Trinity College. The samples came from a range of historical works, including a 15th-century Speculum manuscript, 9th-century Gospel fragments, the 9th-century A?adian Psalter, the Gospel of Trinity from the early 11th century, the Lambeth Bible, and the York Gospels.
Several pages—including multiple pages from the same manuscript—contained DNA from the sheeppox virus. The finding suggests that infected animals were used to produce some of the parchment and provides evidence that medieval sheep populations experienced repeated sheeppox outbreaks. Researchers also detected sheeppox DNA on parchment made from calf and goat skins. That result may indicate cross-species transmission, or contamination during the processing and manufacture of parchment.
The team also extracted ancient DNA from Bronze Age sheep teeth recovered at archaeological sites in Russia and central Kazakhstan. Teeth can preserve genetic evidence of infection for thousands of years, allowing researchers to compare ancient viral genomes with sequences recovered from medieval parchment.
Based on those comparisons, the researchers concluded that sheeppox virus diverged from related capripoxviruses, including goatpox virus, between approximately 11,500 and 3,700 years ago. The timing broadly overlaps with the domestication and spread of livestock in Europe. In total, the study recovered 21 ancient viral genomes dating from 1700 BCE to early modern Europe, offering new insight into the long-term evolution of sheeppox and related livestock diseases.
“Parchment making has long been thought of as a disappearing craft, but we are beginning to realize how much of our past remains,” said co-author Kevin G. Daly of University College Dublin. “This project shows that parchment not only preserves hundreds of years of our cultural history, but also the disease landscape of medieval livestock. Exciting and surprising discoveries of this kind are only possible when researchers from different fields come together to share expertise and data. This is the generosity and trust that collaborative science depends on.”
Science Advances, 2026. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aeh3571.
Source: arstechnica.com