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It’s been amazing getting to interact with you all here, & before I leave I want to share a story about my favourite recent archaeological discovery!
CW: skeletal remains
This story starts deep in the Himalayas at a lake that was infamous for the 100s of skeletons strewn around
It’s been amazing getting to interact with you all here, & before I leave I want to share a story about my favourite recent archaeological discovery!
CW: skeletal remains
This story starts deep in the Himalayas at a lake that was infamous for the 100s of skeletons strewn around
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There were local stories about a plague, an unfortunate king and his travel party, and lost troops of an ancient Indian kingdom. Every year, hundreds of trekkers would move around the remains, take photos or even pay their respects, but there wasn’t a clear explanation
There were local stories about a plague, an unfortunate king and his travel party, and lost troops of an ancient Indian kingdom. Every year, hundreds of trekkers would move around the remains, take photos or even pay their respects, but there wasn’t a clear explanation
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I was fortunate to be a part of a project involving scientists from @ccmb_csir @ansigoi @harvardmed led by @NirajRai3 and we set about applying all the biomolecular archaeological tools possible to investigate the skeletons from the mysterious Roopkund Lake
I was fortunate to be a part of a project involving scientists from @ccmb_csir @ansigoi @harvardmed led by @NirajRai3 and we set about applying all the biomolecular archaeological tools possible to investigate the skeletons from the mysterious Roopkund Lake
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Since this wasn’t a typical archaeological site, we didn’t have the invaluable contextual information we get from systematically excavated sites. Instead, we had carefully sampled skeletal elements from the several hundred that lay disarticulated around the glacial lake
Since this wasn’t a typical archaeological site, we didn’t have the invaluable contextual information we get from systematically excavated sites. Instead, we had carefully sampled skeletal elements from the several hundred that lay disarticulated around the glacial lake
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Thanks to the low temperatures though, the remains were incredibly well-preserved, a rarity for much of South Asia with its extreme temperatures that usually don’t lend themselves to preservation of bioarchaeological molecules.
Thanks to the low temperatures though, the remains were incredibly well-preserved, a rarity for much of South Asia with its extreme temperatures that usually don’t lend themselves to preservation of bioarchaeological molecules.
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We were able to get the first South Asian ancient DNA data from these remains, which showed the presence of three distinct groups for the 38 individuals that we
Roopkund_A was broadly South Asian
Roopkund_B had ancestry typical on modern day Crete
Roopkund_C was SE Asian
We were able to get the first South Asian ancient DNA data from these remains, which showed the presence of three distinct groups for the 38 individuals that we
Roopkund_A was broadly South Asian
Roopkund_B had ancestry typical on modern day Crete
Roopkund_C was SE Asian
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We were also able to extract this fluffy collagen from the bone samples for stable isotope analysis. I was so delighted with how well-preserved the samples were, I had to take a photo! As well as the excitement at holding the remains from an ancestor that can tell us so much!
We were also able to extract this fluffy collagen from the bone samples for stable isotope analysis. I was so delighted with how well-preserved the samples were, I had to take a photo! As well as the excitement at holding the remains from an ancestor that can tell us so much!
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The stable isotope data agreed with the genetic groupings and showed people in
Roopkund_A had a range of diets relying on C3
& C4 
plants + vegetarians 
& non-vegetarians 
Roopkund_B had meat-eating +C3 plant diet
Roopkund_C had a meat-eating+C3 diet too
The stable isotope data agreed with the genetic groupings and showed people in
Roopkund_A had a range of diets relying on C3
& C4 plants + vegetarians & non-vegetarians Roopkund_B had meat-eating
+C3 plant dietRoopkund_C had a meat-eating+C3 diet too
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Lastly, the radiocarbon dating showed that far from being a single mass death, the remains at Roopkund Lake appeared to have been from several different events over hundreds of years!
Lastly, the radiocarbon dating showed that far from being a single mass death, the remains at Roopkund Lake appeared to have been from several different events over hundreds of years!
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This project was so much fun to be a part of because of all the evidence we could obtain by using many different archaeological science techniques to “solve” this archaeological mystery! If you’re interested, you can find the paper open access here
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11357-9/figures/3
This project was so much fun to be a part of because of all the evidence we could obtain by using many different archaeological science techniques to “solve” this archaeological mystery! If you’re interested, you can find the paper open access here
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11357-9/figures/3
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I hope you’ve found all this archaeology, anthropology, and science as exciting as I do! If you have any questions drop them below
or come over to my Twitter @ayushi_nayak for more ancient recipes, archaeological science, and the past and future of our foods!
I hope you’ve found all this archaeology, anthropology, and science as exciting as I do! If you have any questions drop them below
or come over to my Twitter @ayushi_nayak for more ancient recipes, archaeological science, and the past and future of our foods!
