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An international team of researchers has found the DNA of Y. pestis in a 4,000-year-old domesticated sheep from the fortified Bronze Age settlement of Arkaim, in the southern Ural Mountains in present-day Russia, which marks the first confirmed case of a Bronze Age plague infection in a non-human host. It proves that livestock played a role in prehistoric plague dynamics.The sheep was associated with the Sintashta-Petrovka cultural complex, which was known for its sophisticated metallurgy, horse riding, and large, mobile herds. Genetic studies indicate that the bacterium found in the sheep belongs to the Late Neolithic–Bronze Age plague lineage that...

Anomalous zones of Russia: Arkaim town Four thousand years ago the local dwellers suddenly left the town Arkaim located in the south of the present Chelyabinsk Region and burnt the empty settlement. The town had a circular structure coordinated with the stars order. Many believe in mystical characteristics of the area and link it with the legends of ancient Siberia and the Urals. Specialists of the monitoring station of anomalies` research in the Urals claim that the specialized national park-museum Arkaim is a vast anomalous zone. Arkaim was found by an archaeological expedition of the State University of Chelyabinsk in...