Oldest known plague victims found in a 5,500-year-old burial ground in Siberia — and many of them were children

Black and white image of the skeletal remains of a plague victim.

Hunter-gatherers in Siberia fell victim to lethal plague outbreaks around 5,500 years ago, marking the oldest known evidence of plague to date, a new study finds.

A research team investigating the Stone Age remains identified ancient DNA ion over a dozen individuals that came from previously unknown strains of Yersinia pestis, a bacterium that causes pneumonic, bubonic and septicemic plague.