Who were these people? 24 February 2021. The A.V. As reported by the ever-marvelous Atlas Obscura, however, this lake is also chock full of human skeletons. If researchers can launch such an expedition, they might be able to illuminate the lives of some of those who died at the lake. The lake was full of human skeletons. Instead, their genes match those of modern-day people of the eastern Mediterranean. Lately, though, the mystery has only deepened. But more interestingly, the genetics study found the dead comprised a diverse people: one group of people had genetics similar to present-day people who live in South Asia, while the other "closely related" to people living in present-day Europe, particularly those living in the Greek island of Crete. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers linked 38 skeletons from the lake to three distinct groups of individuals, including 23 … Now, a study published today in Nature Communications attempts to unravel what happened at “Skeleton Lake”—but the results raise more questions than answers. Thank you for signing up to Live Science. There is non-DNA evidence that the people in the mystery group weren't like the others who died at the lakes, though. Switch to the light mode that's kinder on your eyes at day time. He found a few of the skeletons at the bottom of the lake while it was frozen. Some day, though, that might change. "It upends any explanations that involved a single catastrophic event that lead to their deaths," Eadaoin Harney, the lead author of the study, and a doctoral student at Harvard University, told me. Though, there are various speculations behind these ancient bones. The Roopkund Skeleton Lake is full of bones from people killed by monstrous hailstorm about 1200 years ago and from mysterious European migrants dead about 220 years ago. Quiz of the week: What's Meghan's children's book called? How did they die? The analysis compared the DNA of the skeletons at the lake with the DNA of modern-day populations. The 2019 analysis also found that this group had a different diet, with less millet, than the people whose genetics suggested a South Asian origin. In 1942, an Indian forest ranger discovered a remote lake, high in the Himalayas, with something strange visible in its clear water. Who were they and how did they get there? So did these diverse groups of people travel to the lake in smaller batches over a period of a few hundred years? When the snow melts, Roopkund lake turns pretty scary as one can see hundreds of skeletons. Maybe some of the skeletons were brought for burial, possibly to be left in the lake. Here is Roopkund Lake Mystery. But such an ideal burial ground wouldn’t have the eerie appeal of Skeleton Lake in Uttarakhand, India, where researchers suspect the bones of as many as 500 people lie. The current best guess for what happened to most of the dead? "As suggested by their consumption of a predominantly terrestrial, rather than marine-based, diet, they may have lived in an inland location, eventually traveling to and dying in the Himalayas. These bones, belonging to between 300 and 800 people, have been a mystery since a forest ranger first reported them to the broader world in 1942. 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Taking an invention from idea to the marketplace, The violent judo class that put a boy in a coma, BBC Culture: TV shows that reveal the real France, Big Chinese rocket segment set to fall to Earth1, German call to ban 'Jewish star' at Covid demos2, Rio police accused of executing suspects in raid3, Australia Olympic team photo sparks diversity row4, Child shoots three at school in Idaho, police say5, Thousands enter lottery to kill Grand Canyon bison6, Girl, 5, stuck in India while parents in Australia7, BBC shocked by fresh Noel Clarke allegations8, California condors swoop on home and 'declare war'9, 'It felt like a scene from a horror movie'10. The story of Roopkund illustrates the need for multiple lines of evidence when investigating the past. What's more, these bones were far newer than most of the others at the lake, which date to around 800; the people with apparent Mediterranean heritage seem to instead have died around 1800. Another suggests that some of the remains are of Indian soldiers who tried to invade Tibet in 1841, and were beaten back. Club Some of the victims at Roopkund have skull fractures that look like the result of blunt-force trauma, research has found. To date, the skeletal remains of an estimated 600-800 people have been found here. The slopes were navigable, and so the man made his way down to the lake - and discovered it was full of skeletons. VideoWhat Myanmar’s military does not want world to see, Eurovision welcomes back fans despite pandemic. Post navigation Previous Previous post: Meet the happiest dog ever l … To appease the goddess, the king set off on a pilgrimage that took him and his entourage past Roopkund, in what is now the state of Uttarakhand. DNA study deepens mystery of lake full of skeletons. Most of them were middle-aged adults, aged between 35 and 40. Roopkund lake is a relatively small body of water, spanning about 130 feet (40  meters) across, but it has a big story attached to it. The mysterious skeletons of Roopkund Lake - once thought to have died during a single catastrophic event - belong to genetically distinct groups that died in multiple periods. Technology Manager, Poet, History Maniac. The mystery behind the skeleton lake in Uttarakhand's Roopkund has finally been solved. High in the Indian Himalayas, a four-to-five-day trek from the nearest village, sits an unassuming glacial lake called Roopkund. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, The slopes were navigable, and so the man made his way down to the lake - and discovered it was full of skeletons. Lake Roopkund is located in northern India along the border of Nepal at 4,800 meters (approx.16,000 ft) above sea level with edges covered in snow for most of the year. Trekkers on their way to Roopkund lake, which lies on a pilgrimage trail for Nanda Devi, a manifestation of the Hindu goddess Parvati. Roopkund, a remote lake high in the Indian Himalaya, is home to one of archaeology’s spookiest mysteries: the skeletons of as many as 800 people. A Lake Full of Dead Bodies The first reports regarding the skeletal remains date to the 19th century, but the remains were re-discovered by Nanda Devi game reserve ranger H K Madhwal in 1942. Roopkund, a remote lake high in the Indian Himalaya, is home to one of archaeology’s spookiest mysteries: the skeletons of as many as 800 people. One can see hundreds of skeletons underwater and it looks like a scene straight out a horror flick, only this one is as real as it gets. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Anthropologists have known about Roopkund Lake for several decades, but little was known about the provenance of its skeletons. This lake, which is far from any human habitat, has been surrounded in and out by hundreds of human skeletons, which was discovered for the first time by a forest ranger in 1942. Since its discovery, the now infamous Lake Roopkund has attracted huge intrigue over who the roughly 500 skeletons once were, and how they all … The victims were also healthy and no weapons or combat signs at the site prove — 10 historical mysteries that will probably never be solved, — The 25 most mysterious archaeological finds on Earth, "Combining different lines of evidence, the data suggest instead that what we have sampled is a group of unrelated men and women who were born in the eastern Mediterranean during the period of Ottoman political control," the researchers wrote. Please refresh the page and try again. Also, the people who came from South Asia "do not appear to come from the same population". The bones alone are mystifying: They belong to both men and women, mostly young adults, who seem to have died in several bouts, perhaps over dozens or hundreds of years. The Skeletons at the Lake Genetic analysis of human remains found in the Himalayas has raised baffling questions about who these people were and why they were there. Posted on May 4, 2021 by Silver Sage Posted in witchcraft Tagged interesting, nature, skeletons, lake, mysterious, mystery. For his article in The New Yorker, Preston interviewed Veena Mushrif-Tripathy, a bioarchaeologist at Deccan College in India who hopes to investigate Roopkund scientifically. In 1942, hundreds of human skeletal remains were discovered at Roopkund Lake, which is … Not just a handful, mind you, but a massive … EXCLUSIVE Roopkund, a lake in the Indian Himalayas, is full of hundreds of skeletons. The latest five-year-long study, involving 28 co-authors from 16 institutions based in India, US and Germany, found all these assumptions may not be true. In 1942 a British forest guard in Roopkund, India made an alarming discovery. The lake is on a pilgrimage trail for Nanda Devi, a manifestation of the Hindu goddess Parvati. Roopkund is also called Skeleton Lake for the hundreds of skeletons scattered there. "We are still searching for answers," says Ms Harney. Hundreds of skeletons are scattered around a site high in the Himalayas, and a new study overturns a leading theory about how they got there. Hundreds of bodies lay below the surface. Back in 1942 one British forest guard found a frozen lake swarming with skeletons of real people. Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer. That summer, the ice melted to reveal even more skeletal remains, floating in the water and lying haphazardly around the lake’s edges. In 1942 a British patrol in Roopkund, India made a shocking discovery. Roopkund Lake is known as skeleton lake due to scattered bones everywhere near the lake. Naturally preserved ancient human skeletons under snow. The discovery of multiple, genetically distinct groups among the Skeletons of Roopkund Lake raise the question of whether these died simultaneously or during separate events.We used Accelerator Mass Spectrometry radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the remains.We find that the Roopkund A and Roopkund B groups are separated in time by 1000 years, with the calibrated dates for … Author: Ravi Rajan. Now, a study published today in Nature Communications attempts to unravel what happened at “Skeleton Lake”—but the results raise more questions than answers. Mass murder is wonrg. Switch to the dark mode that's kinder on your eyes at night time. Mysterious Roopkund Lake – The lake full of skeletons. (Image credit: Awanish Tirkey/Shutterstock) High in the Indian Himalayas, a … By definition murder is wrong. Thanks for watching...Roopkund is a high altitude glacial lake in the Village Wan, Debal, Chamoli, Uttarakhand state of India. She conjured a terrible hailstorm and killed the entire party, the legend goes. Who is young Republican rising star Elise Stefanik? When did they die? The mystery of how dozens of skeletons ended up on the shores of the Lake of Roopkund has puzzled locals and scientists for centuries Scientists discovered they appeared to … Human bones are scattered across the shores of Roopkund Lake in the Himalayas. Posted on May 4, 2021 by Silver Sage Posted in witchcraft Tagged interesting, nature, skeletons, lake, mysterious, mystery. Wednesday, August 21, 2019. Roopkund (locally known as Mystery Lake or Skeletons Lake) is a high altitude glacial lake in the Uttarakhand state of India. There was a problem. Hundreds of skeletons are scattered around the Roopkund lake high in the Himalayas and nobody knows for certain how they got there. There is mysterious lake in the magnificent Gharval Himalaya ― Roopkund. © 2021 BBC. 'It felt like a scene from a horror movie', Rio police accused of executing suspects in raid, What Myanmar’s military does not want world to see. They may not have hailed directly from the eastern Mediterranean, Fuentes said; they could have been from closer to Roopkund but shared common ancestors with the people who ended up populating the eastern Mediterranean. The year was 1942 and it was the height of World War II. According to local legend, a distant king once angered Nanda Devi, causing her to unleash drought upon his kingdom. Approximately 17,000 feet above sea level, at the bottom of a small valley, was a frozen lake full of human skeletons. These skeletons were spotted by a British forest guard in 1942 for the first time. There’s A Frozen Lake In India That’s Full Of Skeletons by Dan Edmund Mar 23, 2021, 10:53 am Throughout history, humans have tackled the unknown. By Depending on the season and weather, the lake, which remains frozen for most of the year, expands and shrinks. As reported by the ever-marvelous Atlas Obscura, however, this lake is also chock full of human skeletons. Scientists have discovered that the skeletons found in the vicinity of the frozen lake by around 200 people belonged to Indian tribesmen from the 9th century who died from the hail storm. Stay up to date on the latest science news by signing up for our Essentials newsletter today. One theory is some were pilgrims caught in a deadly storm - although questions remain Mystery surrounds a skeleton lake filled with hundreds of bones which emerge from melted slow every year. For over 60 years, nobody knew who they were or how they got wiped out. The remote site in Uttarakhand, India, can take five days to trek to from the nearest village. A pilgrimage that passes by the lake might explain why people were travelling in the area. There's no consensus, however, on what a group of people of apparent Mediterranean heritage was doing in such a remote corner of the Himalayas around 1800; there's no historical record of a long-range expedition to the region then, Preston said. Roopkund Lake in the state of Uttarakhand in India. Approximately 17,000 feet above sea level, at the bottom of a small valley, was a frozen lake full of human skeletons. One old theory associates the remains to an Indian king, his wife and their attendants, all of whom perished in a blizzard some 870 years ago. But the mystery dead don't have genetics like the Kalash, which mix eastern Mediterranean genetic markers with South Asian markers, and they don't show any of the signs of inbreeding that would be evident if they didn't mix with the wider South Asian population around them. One theory is that the mysterious dead at Roopkund could have been from an isolated population of Central Asians who descended from Alexander the Great and his armies. Roopkund is a popular trekking destination. Hundreds of bodies lay below … Back in 1942, a frozen lake was discovered in Roopkund, India. In 1942, hundreds of skeletons were found in a lake located in the Himalayas. … Hundreds of people have died at a remote Himalayan lake, and some of them had no obvious reason to be there. (Anuroop /Adobe Stock) The story of Roopkund Lake Roopkund Lake is a glacial lake, situated in the Himalayas, at an altitude of approximately 16,500 feet. Or was it a genetically isolated population of people from distant eastern Mediterranean ancestry that had been living in the region for many generations? View gallery fullscreen. The lake comes under the … Mystery of ‘Skeleton Lake’ filled with hundreds of human bones deepens as scientists make new discovery. Only when the snow melts are the skeletons visible, sometimes with flesh attached and well preserved. This tale may not be far from the truth. Related: 25 grisly archaeological discoveries. Here is Roopkund Lake Mystery. There were many theories surrounding this morbid enigma, and it wasn’t until 2004 when scientists concluded that a … By … Also, a prolific writer on varied topics. Yet another assumes that this could have been a "cemetery" where victims of an epidemic were buried. Scientists now believe they have finally solved this mystery of how and why the skeletons of over 200 people were found in a frozen lake in northern India. Oral histories passed down by the villagers nearby offer more illumination. High in the Himalayas, the Skeleton Lake is thus-named because it's full of human skeletons. Soft tissue and artifacts might even be preserved in the cold water. Those questions are at the heart of a  new article in The New Yorker by Douglas Preston, as well as a subsequent webinar discussion led by Preston and Princeton University anthropologist Agustín Fuentes and hosted by the School for Advanced Research in New Mexico. Located roughly at an elevation of 16,470 feet (5,020m), Roopkund Lake is a glacial lake in the Chamoli district of state Uttarakhand. Read about our approach to external linking. In 1942 a British patrol in Roopkund, India made a shocking discovery. For more than half-a-century anthropologists and scientists have studied the remains and puzzled over a host of questions. The mystery first emerged during the Second World War when a British guard discovered the frozen lake full of skeletons some 5,000 meters above sea level. Accordingly, mass murder is also wrong. Roopkund Lake is located 5,029 metres (16,500ft) above sea level at the bottom of a steep slope on Trisul, one of India's highest mountains, in the state of Uttarakhand. And Thanks to Science It Just Got Even Stranger There is a lake in India where the skeletons … Hundreds of skeletons are scattered around the Roopkund lake high in the Himalayas and nobody knows for certain how they got there. They were caught on the ridge above the lake in horrendous storms, some of which may have included deadly hail. They found that the dead were both genetically diverse and their deaths were separated in time by as much as 1,000 years. Photograph by Himadri Sinha Roy + The size of the lake varies substantially, but it is seldom more 40 meters in diameter (1000 to 1500 square meters in area), and is f… When it is time for the ice to melt, there will be several skeletons visible. The discovery of the lake itself wasn’t the strange part though – the fact was hundreds of skeletons … All were of reasonably good health. It’s part of what separates us from other creatures on our planet. In 1942, an Indian forest ranger discovered a remote lake, high in the Himalayas, full of human skeletons. The spot is beautiful, a dollop of jewel-toned water amid rough gravel and scree, but hardly out of the ordinary for the rugged landscape — except for the hundreds of human bones scattered within and around the lake. What Myanmar’s military does not want world to see. Why are vaccines going to waste in Africa? 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