Jerash mass grave site in the context of the First Pandemic. (A). Regions of aDNA isolated to date prior or at the First Pandemic are marked in dark brown (around First Pandemic). The Jerash site is marked by a star. The Eastern Roman Empire (indicated in dark red) historically documented the plague spreading from North Egypt and the Near East through Mediterranean regions. Yellow dots in dark brown regions denote the current available genetic evidence of Y. pestis recovered from Western Europea...