New discovery in Roopkund is the lake of skeletons of unknown origin
Roopkund, is known as the lake of skeletons. At present there are academies investigating its origin, since it is located at 5000 meters high in the Himalayas and its skeletal remains date from people who lived a little more than a thousand years ago.
Measuring just 40 meters in diameter, Roopkund is a mysterious lagoon. At certain times of the year, when weather conditions allow, it reveals the skeletons they hide. As a result of its mystery, a few years ago its origin began to be studied.
At first, it was discovered that Roopkund was the product of a single cataclysm, that is, it was not a place where they came to dump human bodies or some kind of graveyard. It really was a single event that caused this mystery.
The most recognized historical theory is that of the King of Kanauj, who with his wife, servants and some pilgrims went up to worship the goddess Nanda Devi, but all ended in an attack by the goddess on her worshipers, which would create a crater with many bodies.
However, theories have begun to change after the international team of geneticist David Reich, from Harvard University (USA), and Niraj Rai, from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleo-sciences in Lucknow (India), assembled 38 skeletons for their respective study.
It was discovered that among the skeletons are remains that died centuries away. That is, the first theory of a single cataclysm was disproved. In addition, it was known that the characteristics of these people are thousands of kilometers apart, which not only justifies even more that they are bodies hundreds of years apart, but also that there is a mystery about the origin of the bodies.
In the study, it was concluded that 23 bone remains studied belong to the 7th and 10th centuries, dead in different circumstances. Although it is evident that the majority are of Indian origin, nobody is from the same population or region in particular.
A group of 14 remains died around 1800, a time when there is no record of explorers in this area.
The practice of pilgrimages to lakes like this, or even to valleys or mountain peaks in the region, has been frequent for centuries, so we consider that it is the most likely way in which the remains ended up deposited there, says Ayushi Nayak, researcher at the Max Planck Institute.
Although Roopkund the Skeleton Lake does not present a threat, the appearance of the bodies is still a mystery, since at first it was believed that it was due to some radioactive activity or as mentioned at the beginning, a unique event. Now, researchers will try to find the causes of death for these people.
