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For more than a thousand years, a lake 5,000 metres
above sea level in the Indian Himalayas has been home to hundreds of
human skeletons.
No-one has known how or why they got there.
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It was previously thought they all died in a singular catastrophic
event.
But a decade-long study into the human remains within and surrounding
Roopkund — also known as Skeleton Lake — has revealed the victims had
very different origins and were separated by more than a thousand years.
Local folklore described a pilgrimage to the nearby shrine of the
mountain goddess, Nanda Devi, undertaken by a king and queen and their
attendants, who were struck down by the goddess who was offended by
their celebratory behaviour on the sacred journey.
Down the years there have also been suggestions the skeletons were the
remains of an army, or merchants trapped in a blizzard, or that they
were the victims of an epidemic.
Now, scientists believe there is an even more complex history than
previously imagined.
While the majority of the 38 skeletons researchers used to extract DNA
were of Indian origin, 14 appeared to be eastern Mediterranean, while
one other individual appeared to be south-east Asian — just as far away
from Roopkund.
"This finding shows the power of radiocarbon dating, as it had
previously been assumed that the skeletons of Roopkund lake were the
result of a single catastrophic event," said the study's co-author
Douglas J Kennett of the University of California.
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One sample of skeletons, which were already known to have perished up to
1,200 years ago, revealed variations of dating even within that group.
Some were dated to about AD 675-769, while another individual was dated
more than 200 years after that.
The eastern Mediterranean sample — appearing to closely relate to
present-day Crete and Greece — dated much more recently to around AD
1800.
The report says a likely explanation behind the older sample could be a
mass death during a pilgrimage event.
But mystery still surrounds the newest sample of Mediterranean heritage,
as well as the South-East Asian individual, who also dates to a more
recent period.
The report said an important direction for future investigation would be
to find out if there were reports of large foreign travelling parties
dying in the region over the last few hundred years.
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Dietary analysis of the sampled skeletons backed up the DNA
findings, confirming their diverse origins.
"Roopkund lake has long been subject to speculation about who
these individuals were, what brought them to Roopkund lake, and
how they died," senior author Niraj Rai said.
"It is still not clear what brought these individuals to
Roopkund lake or how they died. We hope that this study
represents the first of many analyses of this mysterious site."
The high altitude of Roopkund lake made it an ideal place for
DNA to survive, and is one of the few places on the otherwise
balmy subcontinent cold enough to preserve it for scientific
analysis.
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