Evidence from Jerash shows the Justinian plague reshaped communities, exposing hidden migration patterns and the human impact of pandemic crises.
“A plague is upon us” was likely a familiar expression in ancient Jordan, where a mysterious disease claimed many lives and left a lasting mark on society.
Today, an interdisciplinary team from the University of South Florida is uncovering new details about the Plague of Justinian and its effects during that period. Led by Rays H. Y. Jiang, an associate professor in the College of Public Health, the group has completed a third study in an ongoing series examining the earliest known outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean.
Their latest paper, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, adds important evidence about the causes and consequences of an outbreak that killed millions across the Byzantine Empire.
Human Stories Behind the Plague of Justinian
“We wanted to move beyond identifying the pathogen and focus on the people it affected, who they were, how they lived, and what pandemic death looked like inside a real city,” Jiang said.
At the time of the outbreak, affected individuals lived in varied and often disconnected communities. In death, however, they were brought together. Many bodies were quickly placed over layers of pottery debris in an abandoned public area, which became the focus of this study.
Jiang led the research alongside colleagues from USF’s Genomics, Global Health Infectious Disease Research Center, and departments including anthropology, molecular medicine, and history. Additional contributions came from archaeologist Karen Hendrix at Sydney University Australia and a DNA laboratory at Florida Atlantic University.
Earlier studies from the team centered on Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for plague. This new work shifts attention to its immediate and lasting effects on an ancient population, along with possible relevance for modern times.
Jerash Mass Grave: First Confirmed Plague Burial Site
“The earlier stories identified the plague organism,” Jiang said. “The Jerash site turns that genetic signal into a human story about who died and how a city experienced crisis.”
Historical accounts describe widespread disease during the Byzantine era, but many supposed mass graves have lacked firm evidence. Jerash is the first location where a plague burial site has been verified through both archaeological findings and genetic analysis.
Researchers determined that the site represents a single burial event, unlike typical cemeteries that expand gradually. In Jerash, hundreds of individuals were buried within a matter of days. This discovery changes understanding of the First Pandemic in two key ways. It provides clear proof of large-scale death and sheds light on how people lived, moved, and faced risk in ancient urban settings.
Migration, Mobility, and Crisis in Ancient Cities
The site also helps explain a long-standing question. Historical and genetic data suggest people moved and mixed across regions, yet burial evidence often indicates individuals lived and died in the same place.
Findings from Jerash show both patterns can coexist. Movement usually occurred slowly over generations and blended into local populations, making it difficult to detect in standard cemeteries. During a crisis, however, more mobile individuals were brought together, revealing these broader migration trends in a single event.
The remains indicate that those buried in Jerash were part of a mobile group within the larger urban population of ancient Jordan. Under normal conditions, they were spread across the region, but the crisis concentrated them in one location.
Lessons on Pandemics, Society, and Human Vulnerability
“By linking biological evidence from the bodies to the archaeological setting, we can see how disease affected real people within their social and environmental context,” Jiang said. “This helps us understand pandemics in history as lived human health events, not just outbreaks recorded in text.”
The study contributes to a broader understanding of how pandemics emerge, spread, and influence societies. Like modern diseases, they are shaped by dense populations, travel, and environmental conditions.
“Pandemics aren’t just biological events, they’re social events, and this study shows how disease intersects with daily life, movement, and vulnerability,” Jiang said. “Because pandemics reveal who is vulnerable and why, those patterns still shape how disease affects societies today.”
Reference: “Bioarchaeological signatures during the Plague of Justinian (541–750 CE) in Jerash (ancient Gerasa), Jordan” by Karen Hendrix, Swamy R. Adapa, Robert H. Tykot, Gregory O’Corry-Crowe, Andrea Vianello, Gloria C. Ferreira, Michael Decker and Rays H.Y. Jiang, 13 January 2026, Journal of Archaeological Science.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2026.106473
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