Oldest evidence of plague in Britain found in 4,000-year-old human remains

Levens Park ring cairn near Kendal, Cumbria. To the right of the solitary large boulder is a circular penannular ring where three women were buried, one of whom was found to carry the Yersinia pestis bacteria. Photograph: Ian Hodkinson, Liverpool John Moores University

The oldest evidence for the plague in Britain has been discovered in 4,000-year-old human remains unearthed at bronze age burial sites in Cumbria and Somerset.

Traces of Yersinia pestis bacteria were found in the teeth of individuals at the Levens Park ring cairn monument near Kendal, and Charterhouse Warren in the Mendips, a site where at least 40 men, women and children were buried, dismembered, in a natural shaft.