Ancient DNA from the skeletons of Roopkund Lake reveals Mediterranean migrants in India
Publication information:
Éadaoin Harney, Ayushi Nayak, Nick Patterson, Pramod Joglekar, Veena Mushrif-Tripathy, Swapan Mallick, Nadin Rohland, Jakob Sedig, Nicole Adamski, Rebecca Bernardos, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht, Brendan J. Culleton, Matthew Ferry, Thomas K. Harper, Megan Michel, Jonas Oppenheimer, Kristin Stewardson, Zhao Zhang, Harashawaradhana, Maanwendra Singh Bartwal, Sachin Kumar, Subhash Chandra Diyundi, Patrick Roberts, Nicole Boivin, Douglas J. Kennett, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, David Reich, and Niraj Rai. 2019. “Ancient DNA from the Skeletons of Roopkund Lake Reveals Mediterranean Migrants in India”. Nature Communications, 10, 1, Pp. 1–10. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11357-9
Abstract
Remains of several hundred humans are scattered around Roopkund Lake, situated over 5,000 meters above sea level in the Himalayan Mountains. Here the authors analyze genome-wide data from 38 skeletons and find 3 clusters with different ancestries and dates, showing the people were desposited in multiple catastrophic events.