During this time, there were also elevated levels of inbreeding. Approximately 61 percent of the DNA samples showed signs of inbreeding, suggesting that the population married within the community.
Additionally, researchers found several cases of the bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, which causes a skin disease in humans.
The bacterium tends to originate in domestic animals, mainly pigs. The bacterium’s presence indicated that the community raised livestock, and it was an important part of their lifestyle.
During the later period, when the cave-dwellers transitioned to a typical village settlement, smallpox was detected in one of the individuals. Some researchers have suggested that smallpox made it to Iberia through the Muslim conquest.
However, the strain in Las Gobas resembled the ones in Scandinavia, Germany, and Russia from the same period. So, it seemed to spread from the east.
Overall, the Las Gobas site marks a time of turbulence in the medieval period of Iberia. The community started as a group of cave-dwellers and endured many struggles along the way before becoming a village settlement.
The study was published in Science Advances.
