Earliest plague strain found in Sweden holds clue to stone age migration from east

Pandemic could explain crash in European population 5,500 years ago and influx of people from Eurasian steppe

An ancient strain of the plague found in a woman buried in Sweden may be the fatal signature of a devastating pandemic that swept through stone age farmers and set the stage for a massive migration into Europe from the east.

Evidence for the grim scenario came to light when scientists ran genetic tests on a 20-year-old woman from a rural farming community who was among 78 people buried in a passage grave in Gikhem in western Sweden.