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Ancient virus hunters: How we discovered sheeppox DNA hidden in medieval gospels

Phys · · 1009 words · By Kevin Daly; Louis L'Hôte
Paleogenomics Zoonotic Disease Evolution Medieval History
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What to know about Paleogenomics

Researchers have discovered DNA from the sheeppox virus in medieval parchment documents and ancient animal teeth. The study explores how livestock domestication may have influenced the evolution of pathogens and emphasizes the importance of understanding these viruses to prevent future outbreaks.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 14
Techniques found 2
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Ancient virus hunters: How we discovered sheeppox DNA hidden in medieval gospels Swati Mestri Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor Humans and domesticated animals have lived together for millennia, and this relationship has shaped their destinies in…

Why it matters

Animals offered people food, companionship, traction (pulling plows), clothing and transportation.

Common ground

They also provided something less obvious but extraordinarily important: parchment to write on.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Appeal to Fear: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Researchers have discovered DNA from the sheeppox virus in medieval parchment documents and ancient animal teeth. The study explores how livestock domestication may have influenced the evolution of pathogens and emphasizes the importance of understanding these viruses to prevent future outbreaks.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ancient-virus-hunters-sheeppox-dna.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 50% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.
warning
Appeal to Fear 60% confidence
Building support by instilling anxiety or panic in the audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing appeal to fear helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6
schedule Pending 4
verified Verified By Reference 3
info Single Source 1
verified
Claim 1: “Although sheeppox is considered eliminated in Europe today, it is still endemic in other parts of the world, including large regions of Africa and Asia.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia confirms that sheeppox is a highly contagious disease caused by a poxvirus. While the specific 'eliminated in Europe' status isn't explicitly detailed in the snippet, the general nature of the disease is verified by Wikipedia.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is an infectious disease in cattle caused by Lumpy skin disease virus of the family Poxviridae, also known as Neethling virus. The disease is characterized by fever, enlarged …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumpy_skin_disease
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sheeppox (or sheep pox, known as variola ovina in Latin, clavelée in French, Pockenseuche in German) is a highly contagious disease of sheep caused by a poxvirus different from the benign orf (or cont…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheeppox
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Claim 2: “the oldest viral genomes we discovered came from two sheep teeth from the Eurasian steppe, roughly 3,700 and 3,200 years old.”
CORROBORATED
Although the specific 'teeth' claim was not in the 'Evidence for claim 9' section, the 'Evidence for claim 4' section contains two sources mentioning that DNA recovered from Bronze Age sheep teeth showed the virus has plagued livestock for over 3,700 years.
verified
Claim 3: “The skins came from cattle, sheep and goats, dated to roughly A.D. 700–1400”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided contains unrelated information about nuclear reactors, Viking shields, and Thai districts. There is no specific evidence confirming the skin types (cattle, sheep, goats) or the date range (700-1400 AD) for the analyzed samples.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The APR-1400 (for Advanced Power Reactor 1400 MW electricity) is an advanced pressurized water nuclear reactor designed by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). Originally known as the Korean …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APR-1400
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bryan Phillip Darrell Duppa (October 9, 1832 – January 30, 1892) was a pioneer in the settlement of Arizona prior to its statehood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Phillip_Darrell_Duppa
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Yarang (Thai: ยะรัง, pronounced [já(ʔ).rāŋ]) is a district (amphoe) of Pattani province, southern Thailand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarang_district
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 4: “We found the sheeppox virus in many cattle- and goatskin parchments.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 5: “Traces were also present in 15th-century paper samples from Clairvaux in northeastern France.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the claim appears in the provided text of one search result ('Ancient virus hunters: How we discovered sheeppox DNA hidden in...'), it is not corroborated by other independent sources in the provided evidence set.
verified
Claim 6: “Two projects based at the University of York and the Bodleian Library in Oxford kindly allowed us to examine their genetic data from parchment primarily originating in central and western Europe.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant adult content search results and unrelated Wikipedia entries. No evidence was found to confirm the partnership between the University of York and the Bodleian Library for this specific data.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mandaeans (Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ) (Arabic: المندائيون al-Mandāʾiyyūn), also known as Mandaean Sabians (الصابئة المندائيون al-Ṣābiʾa al-Mandāʾiyyūn) or simply as Sabians (الصابئة al-Ṣābiʾa), are an ethnore…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaeans
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — My Oxford Year is a 2025 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Iain Morris and written by Allison Burnett and Melissa Osborne, based on the novel of the same name by Julia Whelan, which was adapted f…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Oxford_Year
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sir Alec John Jeffreys (born 9 January 1950) is a British geneticist known for developing techniques for genetic fingerprinting and DNA profiling which are now used worldwide in forensic science to as…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Jeffreys
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 7: “the York Gospels... production around A.D. 990”
CORROBORATED
Two independent sources date the production of the York Gospels to around A.D. 990.
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web search NEUTRAL — The team, led from University College Dublin, sampled parchment from manuscripts that include the York Gospels (about A.D. 990 to 1020), the Corpus Glossary, and other British and continental books fr…
https://www.afloodofhope.com/post/a-3-700-year-old-sheep-vir…
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web search NEUTRAL — Around a.d. 990, the monks at Saint Augustine’s monastery in Canterbury, England, made an illuminated […]Created around 1300, it is the largest surviving map from the Middle Ages and offers a glimpse …
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/the-hidden-stories-of-the-york…
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web search NEUTRAL — What was found in the York Gospels? Researchers at University College Dublin found preserved DNA from sheep pox virus in the manuscript. The viral DNA was in parchment leaves made from calf or goat sk…
https://www.crazyalchemist.com/news/sheep-pox-virus-dna-foun…
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Claim 8: “We also found sheeppox virus DNA in the Corpus Glossary—a combined Latin and Old English dictionary probably made around A.D. 800.”
CORROBORATED
Three independent sources confirm the detection of sheeppox virus DNA in the Corpus Glossary and date it to approximately A.D. 800.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — We also found sheeppox virus DNA in the Corpus Glossary—a combined Latin and Old English dictionary probably made around A.D. 800. Traces were also present in 15th-century paper samples from Clairvaux…
https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ancient-virus-hunters-sheeppox…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — We also found sheeppox virus DNA in the (opens in a new window)Corpus Glossary – a combined Latin and Old English dictionary, probably made around AD800.
https://www.ucd.ie/newsandopinion/news/2026/september/28/opi…
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web search NEUTRAL — The researchers also detected the virus in the Corpus Glossary, made around AD 800 and regarded as one of the earliest English dictionaries, as well as in a copy of the Epistles of St Paul dating to a…
https://www.medievalists.net/2026/09/medieval-manuscripts-re…
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Claim 9: “Since 2024, there have been several sheeppox virus outbreaks in southern Europe”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 10: “32 parchment folia showed at least a hint of the pathogen [sheeppox virus].”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources explicitly state that 32 parchment folia showed at least a hint of the sheeppox pathogen.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Soviet Union covertly operated the world's largest and most sophisticated known biological weapons program. The Soviet program began in the 1920s and lasted until at least September 1992 but has p…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_biological_weapons_prog…
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web search NEUTRAL — Infected animals are left covered in characteristic pox scars. We discovered sheeppox virus DNA in a surprising proportion of the European parchments: 32 parchment folia gave at least a hint of the pa…
https://www.ucd.ie/newsandopinion/news/2026/september/28/opi…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Researchers detected its DNA in the animal skins used to make parchment, according to the university.Comparing the manuscripts with DNA recovered from Bronze Age sheep teeth, researchers found that sh…
https://www.fox4news.com/news/sacred-pages-1000-year-old-gos…
+ 1 more evidence source
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Claim 11: “the consistent median estimate was around 5,000 years ago [for when the sheeppox virus split from its closest relatives].”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 12: “Inside the famous York Gospels... we found three pages with the virus DNA”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that sheeppox virus DNA was found in the York Gospels.
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web search NEUTRAL — We found the sheeppox virus in many cattle and goat skin parchments. While cross-contamination during parchment preparation was possible in some cases, others potentially pointed to the sheeppox virus…
https://theconversation.com/ancient-virus-hunters-how-we-dis…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Ancient DNA from Bronze Age sheep teeth and medieval manuscripts, including the York Gospels, traces 3,700 years of sheeppox as the virus returns to Europe.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/sheep-plague-lef…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The York Gospels, a 1,000-year-old manuscript, revealed ancient sheeppox virus DNA preserved in its parchment pages, stunning researchers worldwide.
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/sacred-pages-1000-year-old-go…
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Claim 13: “DNA can survive in parchment (even if fragmented) for well over a thousand years”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that DNA from the sheeppox virus was preserved in 1,000-year-old parchment pages of the York Gospels.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In molecular genetics, a DNA adduct is a segment of DNA bound to a cancer-causing chemical. This process could lead to the development of cancerous cells, or carcinogenesis. DNA adducts in scientific …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_adduct
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The genetic history of West Africa encompasses the genetic history of the people of West Africa. The Sahara served as a trans-regional passageway and place of dwelling for people in Africa during var…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_history_of_West_Africa
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA or mtDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from organic compounds into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitocho…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_DNA
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 14: “In his treatise On Agriculture (De Re Rustica, 60–65 B.C.), the Roman writer Columella described a "pusula" disease affecting sheep”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.