Kerstin Schierhold

Editor’s summary Abstract Supplementary Materials References and Notes Information & Authors Metrics & Citations Check Access References Figures Tables Media Share Editor’s summary One of the longstanding questions in human history is the degree to which culture has spread through the migration of people versus the spreading of ideas. da Silva et al. analyzed ancient DNA from 203 individuals from six European sites who fell into two culture groups: the Western Funnel Beaker and the Wartberg.

Abstract Yersinia pestis has been infecting humans since the Late Neolithic (LN). Whether those early infections were isolated zoonoses or initiators of a pandemic remains unclear. We report Y. pestis infections in two individuals (of 133) from the LN necropolis at Warburg (Germany, 5300–4900 cal BP). Our analyses show that the two genomes belong to distinct strains and reflect independent infection events.