2003/07/01 by Michael McCormick · 6 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies #Genetic diversity and population structure
paper · pdf · doi:10.1162/002219503322645439
openalex publication_date 2003/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
During the last twenty years, archaeozoological research has significantly transformed the picture of the black rat (rattus rattus) in classical antiquity and medieval Europe. These new data, in conjunction with extant texts from these periods, make a great contribution to the understanding of the bubonic plagues of the sixth and the fourteenth centuries, as well as to the history of the communications and economic systems linking the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic. The study of ancient rats and their colonization extends the temporal and geographical groundwork for a fully historical global ecology.