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The group detected Y. pestis DNA in the remains of a domesticated sheep that lived around 4,000 years ago at Arkaim, a fortified settlement in the Southern Ural Mountains of present-day Russia near the border of Kazakhstan. This is a large barrier to getting a strong signal for the animal, but it also gives us an opportunity to look for pathogens that infected herds and their handlers." The research is highly technical and time-intensive. "We were extra excited because Arkaim is linked to the Sintashta culture, which is known for early horse riding, impressive bronze weaponry, and substantial geneflow into Central Asia." The next question to answer Scientists have found numerous examples of identical strains of Bronze Age plague in humans thousands of kilometers apart. The Bronze Age was the moment when people in the Sintashta culture began to maintain larger herds of livestock, while also riding horses well for the first time."