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This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber. This’ll just take a minute.

Clues about modern-day tuberculosis¹ could be found in some 6,000 year old bones. Israeli, Palestinian and German scientists have teamed up to investigate the remnants of diseases in bones excavated² from the ancient city of Jericho. It’s an exercise in paleoepidemiology, the study of ancient diseases in mummified bodies and other human remains³. The Jericho bones were unearthed⁴ by Dr. Kathleen Kenyon half a century ago. The DNA⁵ in the samples will be tested for tuberculosis, leprosy,leishmania and malaria⁶. But the focus is on tuberculosis, which is the biggest killer⁷ today. Scientists believe that tuberculosis originated in the Fertile Crescent 9-10,000 years ago. And Jericho is one of the earliest cities on earth, about 11,000 years old. So there’s a good chance TB could have gotten a start there. Researchers will be studying how early cities—the first time people lived in crowds—affected the DNA of microbes and their human hosts. They’ll also be looking at the remains of animals, which could have been disease vectors. Scientists on the team believe there’s sufficient DNA in the samples to provide new information about the origin and evolution of TB, which could help us combat it today.

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber.