Skeletal remains had trace of 3 groups

Hyderabad: Skeletal remains found at the Roopkund Lake in the Himlayan region are genetically similar to Indian, Mediterranean and South East Asian population according to a large-scale study published in the journal Nature Communications.

The study which was conducted by an international team of scientists along with Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology found that the genetically distinct groups died in at least two episodes separated by one thousand years.

The first ancient DNA reported from India has shown three distinct genetic groups. Dr. Kumarasamy Thangaraj, co-senior author and chief scientist at the CSIR-CCMB explained, “We first became aware of the presence of multiple distinct groups at Roopkund after sequencing the mitochondrial DNA of 72 skeletons. While many of the individuals possessed genetic information typical of present-day Indian populations, there were also a large number of individuals with genetic make-up that is more typical of populations from West Eurasia.”

This work in the Roopkund Lake situated 5,000 meters above sea-level in the Himalayan mountains was initiated more than a decade ago. Another co-senior author Dr. Niraj Rai, who was a PhD student of CCMB and presently scientist at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in Lucknow says, “The first group was composed of 23 individuals with ancestries that were related to people from present-day India, who did not appear to belong to a single population, but instead were derived from many different groups. Surprisingly, the second large group was 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.”

Stable isotope reconstruction of the skeletons also supported the presence of multiple distinct groups among the skeletons. This was consistent with the genetic evidence. The individuals with Indian-related ancestry died at Roopkund during 7-10th century CE which could be due to several distinct events.

The other two groups could have been travellers from the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia who had arrived at Roopkund Lake during 17-20th centuries.

The researchers have noted that the history of Roopkund Lake was more complex than it was anticipated raising striking questions of how migrants from eastern Mediterranean died in this place.

Dr Rakesh Mishra, Director, CCMB said, “This study highlights the power of genomics study, coupled with other biomolecular tools, in understanding our past. The success of this study is going to pave the way for analysing large number of skeletal remains obtained from different parts of the country.”