800-year-old teeth may hold secret to origins of Black Death

People praying for relief from the bubonic plague known as the Black Death. Picture: Hulton Archive.

Teeth from seven people who died around 1338 hold the secret to the mysterious origins of the Black Death which killed millions of people, researchers have claimed.

The plague pandemic is estimated to have caused the deaths of up to 60% of the western Eurasian population between 1346 and 1353 with smaller epidemics continuing into the 1800s.