Embedded in the treated animal hides of medieval manuscripts, scientists have found the genetic fingerprint of a virus more than 3,700 years old — sheeppox, a close relative of smallpox that killed half a million livestock animals as recently as 2025. The discovery reminds us that the parchment pages on which scribes recorded human knowledge were themselves biological artifacts, carrying invisible records of the diseases that shaped the animal world. In bridging the ancient and the contemporary, this finding asks us to reconsider how long humanity has shared its fate with certain pathogens — a
Medieval Manuscripts Reveal 3,700-Year-Old Sheeppox Virus Still Killing Livestock
500,000 animals were killed by sheeppox in 2025.