Roopkund, the skeleton lake
A lake in the Himalayas where the remains of more than 300 people have been found. A genetic study published in 2019 found they died in different centuries and came from different places.
The remains of more than 300 people have been found at Roopkund. The Anthropological Survey of India studied the skeletons in the 1950s, and some samples are shown at its museum in Dehradun. That work found head injuries, which some sources say came from round objects falling from above. The researchers concluded that the dead had been caught in a sudden hailstorm, matching the local legends and songs. Wikipedia adds that radiocarbon dating at Oxford put the deaths at about 850 CE, with a margin of 30 years.
A later study combined radiocarbon dating with genome-wide analysis of 38 individuals. It found three distinct groups from different eras: 23 people from around 800 CE with typical South Asian ancestry, 14 from around 1800 CE with ancestry typical of the eastern Mediterranean, specifically mainland Greece and Crete, and one from around 1800 CE with Southeast Asian ancestry. Wikipedia says this counts against a single catastrophe, although the younger remains appear to have been left in one event. Harvard's Eadaoin Harney said the Mediterranean ancestry suggests travellers came to the lake from far beyond the region. Harvard Medical School's David Reich said the lake's history turned out more complicated than anyone expected.
"Remnants belonging to more than 300 people have been found. The Anthropological Survey of India conducted a study of the skeletons during the 1950s and some samples are displayed at the Anthropological Survey of India Museum, Dehradun.[14] The studies of the skeletons revealed head injuries;[15] according to some sources,[16] these injuries were caused by round objects from above, and were the common cause of death amongst the deceased. Those researchers concluded that the victims had been caught in a sudden hailstorm, just as described in local legends and songs.[7][16] Radiocarbon dating of the bones at Oxford University's Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit determined the time of death to be 850 CE ±30 years.[citation needed] More recently, radiocarbon dating combined with genome-wide analysis of 38 individuals from Roopkund Lake, found that the remains are from different eras and belong to three distinct groups.[17][8] A group of 23 individuals (dated ~800 CE) had typical South Asian ancestry, one individual (dated ~1800 CE) had Southeast Asian ancestry, analyzed as roughly 82% Malay and 18% Vietnamese, and 14 individuals (dated ~1800 CE) had ancestry typical of the eastern Mediterranean, and specifically of present-day people from mainland Greece and Crete.[8] Those findings counter the theory that the individuals died in a single catastrophic event. The radiocarbon dating further suggests that the older, South Asian remains were deposited over an extended period of time, while the younger, eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asian remains were deposited during a single event.[8]"
- India's skeleton lake contains bones of mysterious European migrants, Onmanorama (2019)
- The mystery of Skeleton Lake in the Himalayas has just deepened, ScienceAlert