Human–Bovine Plagues in the Early Middle Ages
Timothy P. Newfield
Two independent molecular clock analyses (mcas) reveal that measles (mv) diverged from rinderpest (rpv) c. 1000 c.e. This evidence, when conjoined with written accounts of non-Justinianic plagues in 569–570 and 986–988 zoo-archaeological discoveries regarding early medieval mass bovine mortalities, suggests a now-extinct morbillivirus, ancestral to mv rpv, broke out episodically the Middle Ages, causing large mortalities both species. Tentative diagnoses an mv–rpv ancestor help untangle human–bovine disease facilitate assessment consequences plagues.
Journal of Interdisciplinary History