▲ Lake Lukkund, known as 'Skull Lake'
On the 5,29-meter plateau above the Himalayas in northern India, there is Lake Lukkund, known as the 'skull lake'.
Usually, the lake was frozen, and in summer, hundreds of human remains appeared, so it was nicknamed 'Skull Lake'.
The existence of this lake has been known to the world since the 1940s, but it remains a mystery of when, who, and how it died.
Scientists from India, Germany and the United States published their findings in a journal published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday.
Niras Rai led the study by Indian ancient DNA specialists and David Reich, Harvard University geneticist.
The title of the paper is 'Ancient DNA (DNA) from the Lake Lufkund skeleton shows the Mediterranean of India.'
Scientists extracted DNA from dozens of scrambled bones at Lake Lubbund to identify 23 male and 15 female bones.
Analyzes of the 38 remains revealed that they were divided into three genetic groups and died at various times between 1,000 years instead of dying at the same time.
Genetic analysis showed that 23 had ancestors of South Asians, 14 had eastern Mediterranean ancestors, and 1 had ancestors associated with Southeast Asia.
In addition, radiocarbon dating indicates that remains of South Asian ancestors were deposited in lakes between the 7th and 10th centuries, and the rest were buried between the 17th and 20th centuries about a thousand years ago.
Among the 38, there were children and the elderly, but no family or relatives.
"We didn't expect the ashes found in the lake to be genetically and temporally heterogeneous," he says. "All of them are not dead in a catastrophic event."
Various hypotheses existed about the ruins of Lake Lufukund: ▲ Pilgrims came to rescue water, died ▲ Had a hailstone ▲ Was killed by an epidemic.
(Photo: Nature Communications, Yonhap News)