Submitted by PeskieBrucelle t3_yhth1g in askscience
iayork t1_iuh9ec6 wrote
I don’t know of any, but the question is reasonable - only a pedantic blowhard ignorant of language would insist on “writing” as the only meaning of “record”.
Records of pandemics could include pathological evidence (like bone lesions, as seen in say the treponema lesions on T. rex bones); archaeological evidence (inhabitation followed by abrupt disappearance); and/or genetic evidence (genome sequencing of pathogens associated with skeletons, for example, as has been done for the Black Plague and leprosy in the Middle Ages).
The existence of North American pandemics immediately following European contact is well known, although the cause (probably multiple, probably including measles, smallpox, and possibly some unknown pathogens) and the extent (did they kill off 75%, 90%, 99% of the population) remain unclear. There are some written records of this as well, of course.
Otherwise I don’t know of clear evidence of prehistoric pandemics or panzootics (i.e. in non-humans). All of the record types I mentioned have been used to identify infections on a smaller scale, but I don’t know of them used for widespread disease.
But it’s possible I’ve missed some, and the question makes perfect sense to ask.
[deleted] t1_iuhc5a2 wrote
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iayork t1_iuhj5gx wrote
> , being ‘pedantic’ is a pretty healthy trait for a scientist is it not?
Where did this idea come from? People whose only exposure to science comes from Mrs Brown in fourth grade? Pedantry like this is the opposite of science - the ignorant and incurious sneering at a legitimate question because of their mistaken and limited understanding.
Answer the question, don’t simply snigger at the questioner, especially when you’re wrong.
[deleted] t1_iuk2wpg wrote
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[deleted] t1_iuhhnc4 wrote
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RudeBoyPlays t1_iujim24 wrote
What about something like a endogenous retrovirus?
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