Kyle Harper

oblique references that may be interpreted as epidemic.

But one of the interesting things is we actually think that the plague moves through India to get to Rome.

This is not definite, but the plagues

In enzootic, it's like natural animal reservoir, is the Tian Shan Mountains where China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan meet.

And we can actually, in the scheme of things, kind of identify a pretty small region where the pandemic lineage comes from.

And we know that it doesn't go overland.

So it's not like the Black Death, which goes across the steppe.

The Mongol trade networks, military networks carry it.

In the 6th century, probably the plague goes south through India and maybe like the ports in Gujarat or along the west coast that are still pretty connected with the Roman world, with East Africa, with Arabia, with the Red Sea.

that the plague travels on ship across the Indian Ocean because it shows up – the plague of Justinian shows up in the Red Sea.

And so that is a clue that it probably is imported on this seaborne commerce.

But how it got from Central Asia to Gujarat is a hard question.

There's two things.

First of all, you have to look.

Yeah.

So there is at present,

not nearly the same amount of ancient DNA laboratory work that's happening on remains from ancient India.

So if you're not looking, you're definitely not going to find it.

And people aren't looking.

Secondly, it takes a lot of luck for it to preserve.