Hundreds of bodies are scattered around Oopkund Lake, nicknamed “Skeleton Lake” in the Indian Himalayas. Local legends tell of an ancient group caught in a mountain hail. But analysis of the bones’ ages and genomes reveals something even more surprising and difficult to explain: The victims were 1,000 years apart and all had very different origins.

At 5,000 meters above sea level, Roopkund is higher than any mountain in Western Europe or the neighboring United States, so getting there isn’t easy. But something must have happened to make the effort worthwhile, because when a multi-university team took genomic DNA samples from 38 Roopkund skeletons, they discovered three very different ethnic groups.

As expected, most were Native Americans, but DNA from 14 others revealed Eastern Mediterranean heritage, most likely Greek islands. It appears that an individual’s ancestors were in Southeast Asia, almost in the opposite direction.

Additionally, radiocarbon dating showed that rather than a single storm killing them all, locals died 1,000 years ago, while visitors died much later, probably around 1800 AD. Even more surprising is that the older group appears to have come from many parts of India, with at least two centuries separating the oldest and youngest in this population.

“Through the use of biomolecular analyses, such as ancient DNA analysis, stable isotope diet reconstruction, and radiocarbon dating, we found that the history of Roopkund Lake is more complex than we had ever expected, raising the intriguing question of how migrants from the Eastern Mediterranean had their origins in the present-day region.” which is extremely unusual, died in this region only a few hundred years ago,” said Professor David Reich of Harvard Medical School.

Findings published in the journal Nature Communication In 2019, there was the first report of successful whole genome ancient DNA collection and analysis in India. DNA rarely survives well in hot climates, and the high-altitude lake is one of the few places on the subcontinent that is cold enough to preserve it.

The findings were so incredible that Reich and co-authors confirmed them by examining isotopes of the bones, confirming the vast differences in their diets and possible origins.

Some of the local stories appear to be true: Some of the skulls found at the site show damage consistent with large hail, and nearly half were female. However, none of those chosen were related to each other. The authors believe these were pilgrims to a nearby temple but cannot account for the later population. Source