The Neolithic transition modified the lifestyle of humans. Hunting and gathering gave way to agriculture as the majority way of life, a change that altered subsistence patterns, cultural expressions and also the structures of the populations of the different tribes.
So many alterations also caused the appearance of new diseases. And bacterial poisoning became a lethal threat that caused much suffering during the Stone Age. Bacteria that today can be treated with a simple antibiotic were then deadly and were transmitted through water, food... and kisses.
When people began to live in stable settlements and the number of individuals in towns increased, a simple outbreak could turn into a real nightmare without having the right medications, according to Stockholm University researchers in an article published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Experts describe two different types of microbes found in Scandinavian communities, both those expected in a healthy person, as well as several that must have caused pain and health problems.
Among the bacteria found, Neisseria meningitidis stands out, which is transmitted through close contact between humans, for example when kissing. Yersinia entrecolitica is often contracted through contaminated food and water, and Salmonella enterica is a common cause of food poisoning even today.
"Especially the case of Salmonella enterica shows us how difficult it could be to contract such a disease. In a Battle Ax culture burial, in Bergsgraven, in Linköping, we found two infected individuals and we may have witnessed the cause of their death," says Nora Bergfeldt, who is conducting her research on bacterial diseases in prehistoric societies.
Bergfeld and his team examined microbes in 38 individuals, 25 Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherers and 13 Neolithic farmers. They were analyzed from materials from about 9,500 years ago discovered in Hummerviksholmen, in southern Norway, to remains from 4,500 years ago found in Bergsgraven, in Linköping (Sweden).
"The bacterial diseases that we have found among these individuals are easily treated today with antibiotics, but back then they could be lethal," the Stockholm University expert points out in a statement.
Microbes such as bacteria and some viruses have their genetic information organized in DNA, just as humans do. This is why this type of microbial genetic code can be found in the remains of infected individuals.
"We know when people turned to agriculture in Scandinavia, but we still don't know how this change in lifestyle affected general health," says specialist Helena Malmström from the Human Evolution Program at Uppsala University.
"The more people interacted, the more likely they were to infect each other. But even if we found bacteria like Yersinia pestis, with the potential to impact societies, it is infections spread through food that are most prominent in people's lifestyles. this study," the researchers conclude.
