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  "path": "/releases/2026/03/260306224232.htm",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-07T03:41:28.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.sciencedaily.com",
  "textContent": "A mysterious form of plague that spread across Eurasia thousands of years before the Black Death has finally revealed a crucial clue. Scientists analyzing ancient DNA discovered the bacterium Yersinia pestis in a 4,000-year-old domesticated sheep from a Bronze Age settlement in the Ural Mountains—the first time the pathogen has ever been found in a non-human host from that era. Because this early strain couldn’t spread through fleas like the medieval plague, researchers have long puzzled over how it traveled so widely.",
  "title": "A 4,000-year-old sheep reveals the secret of an ancient plague"
}