Dating the Justinianic Plague in England: integrating historical and archaeological data on the early Cambridgeshire region

Archaeogenetic analysis has retrieved evidence of the presence of <i>Yersinia pestis</i>, the pathogen of bubonic plague, from graves in the Early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Edix Hill, Cambridgeshire. Associated grave goods there, and some radiocarbon dates from Germany, suggested that the plague may have been present before the historically recorded outbreak of the 540s known as the Justinianic Plague. Targeted high-precision radiocarbon dating, however, largely confirms the conventional historical chronology. Concurrent re-examination of multiple methodological and empirical issues informatively reveals complex issues within radiocarbon data, and significant disjunctions in the phased sequence of both female and male accoutrements in this part of Anglo-Saxon England across the middle of the sixth century, when the populations were also having to accommodate themselves to the onset of the Late Antique Little Ice Age.

考古遗传学分析从剑桥郡埃迪克斯山（Edix Hill）早期盎格鲁-撒克逊墓地的墓葬中，检出了腺鼠疫（bubonic plague）致病菌鼠疫耶尔森菌（Yersinia pestis）存在的证据。该墓地出土的随葬品，以及德国地区的部分放射性碳定年结果提示，腺鼠疫可能早在公元540年代有历史记载的查士丁尼大瘟疫（Justinianic Plague）暴发之前就已出现。然而，针对性高精度放射性碳定年工作在很大程度上印证了传统历史纪年框架。与此同时，对多项方法学与实证议题的重新检视，不仅富有成效地揭示了放射性碳数据内部的复杂问题，同时也揭露了公元6世纪中叶英格兰盎格鲁-撒克逊区域内，男女随葬器物分期序列中存在的显著断层；彼时当地人口亦需适应晚古小冰期（Late Antique Little Ice Age）的降临。