Posted on 08/22/2019 6:14:29 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A large-scale study conducted by an international team of scientists has revealed that the mysterious skeletons of Roopkund Lake - once thought to have died during a single catastrophic event - belong to genetically highly distinct groups that died in multiple periods in at least two episodes separated by one thousand years...
Situated at over 5000 meters above sea-level in the Himalayan Mountains of India, Roopkund Lake has long puzzled researchers due to the presence of skeletal remains from several hundred ancient humans, scattered in and around the lake's shores, earning it the nickname Skeleton Lake or Mystery Lake...
Whole genome sequencing of 38 individuals revealed that there were at least three distinct groups among the Roopkund skeletons. The first group is composed of 23 individuals with ancestries that are related to people from present-day India, who do not appear to belong to a single population, but instead derived from many different groups. Surprisingly, the second largest group is made up of 14 individuals with ancestry that is most closely related to people who live in the eastern Mediterranean, especially present-day Crete and Greece. A third individual has ancestry that is more typical of that found in Southeast Asia. "We were extremely surprised by the genetics of the Roopkund skeletons. The presence of individuals with ancestries typically associated with the eastern Mediterranean suggests that Roopkund Lake was not just a site of local interest, but instead drew visitors from across the globe," says first-author Eadaoin Harney of Harvard University...
Two major groups at Roopkund Lake date to 1000 years apart, with the more recent around 1800 AD...
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
The lake was thought to be the site of an ancient catastrophic event that left several hundred people dead, but the first ancient whole genome data from India shows that diverse groups of people died at the lake in multiple events approximately 1000 years apart.
Credit: Atish Waghwase
"In and around the lake, mountains come out of the sky, and they stand there...
Some of the bodies studied seem to have messed up dates according to their dna.
Lord, I was born a ramblin’ man...
Wow, kind of strange. Some sort of one way multi-pilgrimages chasing myths at this lake?
Tired of watching the Eiffel Tower rust?
Are the sidewalks of San Francisco making you feel crappy?
The Tourist Board of Roopkund invites you to come and see the dead bodies in our lake!
Enjoy our evening fish fry with the fresh caught salmon from Lake Roopkund.
Gourmet chefs rave about the taste of our fish!
“They taste like chicken!”
Marco
Polo
The people died from repeated blows to the back of their heads, which is consistent with local stories of killer hailstorms. Typically when there are mass deaths around a lake the culprit is a suddenly release of gas from the lake that suffocates them.
Until now, I’d never heard of this weirdness — and several online articles didn’t hep much, either. One article, however mentioned a National Geographic study.
Are you aware if anything on Roopkund Lake and its mass of skeletal (with flesh) remains was ever published in Nat Geo?
Thanks,
TXnMA
I'm not aware of it. AFAIK / remember, this article is the first time I'd ever heard of the place. The puzzle is, how did a place at 5000 meters above sealevel come to be occupied even once, much less three times? :^)
“14 individuals with ancestry that is most closely related to people who live in the eastern Mediterranean, especially present-day Crete and Greece’
could be descendants of remnants of Alexander the Great’s army when he invaded India ...
Lol, I could watch the series over and over again. Classic.
Very well could be...
Depends of course on the dating of the remains. :^)
“Depends of course on the dating of the remains.
I knew that :-)
Mystery Solved: The Skeleton Lake of India
The deaths at Rookpund Lake could be the result of a freak hailstorm
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2013/10/08/mystery-solved-the-skeleton-lake-of-india/
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