Rome5th century AD · Fallward, near Wremen, Lower Saxony, Germany
Man in a 5th-century boat grave in Germany carried a leprosy strain never before found in Europe
Ancient DNA shows the man, buried with a carved throne and a late Roman military belt near the North Sea, came from the Danube region.
In brief 3 key points
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- Ancient DNA from a boat burial on Germany's North Sea coast
- The man came from the Danube region far to the south
- His leprosy strain is known elsewhere only from Egypt
A man buried in a boat in northern Germany in the fifth century AD was infected with a rare strain of leprosy that had never been found in Europe before. Ancient DNA also shows that he came from the Danube region. The study, led by researchers in Kiel, is published in the journal iScience.
The grave lies in the Fallward burial ground in the district of Cuxhaven, near the North Sea coast between the Weser and the Elbe. Heritage staff of the district excavated the cemetery in the 1990s. The damp soil preserved wooden and textile grave goods whole.
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A throne and a Roman belt
The man was buried in a boat with many objects of wood, pottery and metal. They include a richly decorated chair carved from an alder trunk, known as the Throne from the Marsch. He also had a late Roman military belt.
“Furthermore, the man possessed a late Roman military belt, which suggested that the deceased had had connections across great distances.”
Hauke Jöns, Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research (NIhK)
The Fallward finds are now being fully analysed for the first time in a project at the NIhK in Wilhelmshaven, funded by the German Research Foundation. Objects lifted in blocks in the 1990s and kept frozen are being examined in the laboratory.
The ancient DNA group of the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (IKMB) at Kiel University received bone samples from 11 people. Three gave enough data for a study of their ancestry. The man in the boat grave stood out.
A pathogen from the Mediterranean
His DNA places his origins in the Danube region. He also carried leprosy, a chronic bacterial disease. His strain belongs to a group whose earliest known example comes from Egypt, dated between the fourth and second centuries BC. The group had not been detected in central or northern Europe until now.
“He is the first individual from this group to have been identified in Europe.”
Daniel Myburgh, IKMB, Kiel University, lead author
His bones show no damage from the disease. Almut Nebel of the IKMB, a co-author, says he either had a form without symptoms or the disease had so far affected only soft tissue. Symptoms of leprosy can take years to appear, so he may have travelled far while infected.
The team thinks he lived for some time in south-eastern Europe or the Mediterranean before coming north. His exact origins remain unknown.
“He could, for example, have been a mercenary in the Roman army who later settled between the Elbe and the Weser. Or he might have undertaken long journeys as a trader.”
Ben Krause-Kyora, IKMB, Kiel University, lead researcher of the study
Sources (2)
Peer-reviewed paperfrom Kiel University and Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research
- Boat burial reveals leprosy strain in fifth-century Germany (Phys.org)
- Rare leprosy strain found in a fifth-century boat burial in Germany (Kiel University (idw))
Paper: Myburgh DA, da Silva NA, Romeyer-Dherbey JH, Grefen-Peters S, Jöns H, Peek C, Nebel A, Krause-Kyora B. Paleogenomics reveals leprosy at the late antique burial site of Fallward in northern Germany. iScience 29(11), 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117877
Edited by Guiseppe Weijermars
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