IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-11357-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ancient DNA from the skeletons of Roopkund Lake reveals Mediterranean migrants in India

Author

Listed:
  • Éadaoin Harney

    (Harvard University
    The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Ayushi Nayak

    (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)

  • Nick Patterson

    (Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
    Harvard University)

  • Pramod Joglekar

    (Deccan College)

  • Veena Mushrif-Tripathy

    (Deccan College)

  • Swapan Mallick

    (Harvard Medical School
    Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Nadin Rohland

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Jakob Sedig

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Nicole Adamski

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Rebecca Bernardos

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Brendan J. Culleton

    (The Pennsylvania State University
    The Pennsylvania State University)

  • Matthew Ferry

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Thomas K. Harper

    (The Pennsylvania State University)

  • Megan Michel

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School
    The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean)

  • Jonas Oppenheimer

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Kristin Stewardson

    (Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Zhao Zhang

    (Harvard Medical School)

  • Harashawaradhana

    (North West Regional Centre)

  • Maanwendra Singh Bartwal

    (North West Regional Centre)

  • Sachin Kumar

    (CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology
    Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences)

  • Subhash Chandra Diyundi

    (Gautam Budh Health Care Foundation)

  • Patrick Roberts

    (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)

  • Nicole Boivin

    (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)

  • Douglas J. Kennett

    (University of California)

  • Kumarasamy Thangaraj

    (CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology)

  • David Reich

    (The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean
    Harvard Medical School
    Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT
    Harvard Medical School)

  • Niraj Rai

    (CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology
    Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences)

Abstract

Situated at over 5,000 meters above sea level in the Himalayan Mountains, Roopkund Lake is home to the scattered skeletal remains of several hundred individuals of unknown origin. We report genome-wide ancient DNA for 38 skeletons from Roopkund Lake, and find that they cluster into three distinct groups. A group of 23 individuals have ancestry that falls within the range of variation of present-day South Asians. A further 14 have ancestry typical of the eastern Mediterranean. We also identify one individual with Southeast Asian-related ancestry. Radiocarbon dating indicates that these remains were not deposited simultaneously. Instead, all of the individuals with South Asian-related ancestry date to ~800 CE (but with evidence of being deposited in more than one event), while all other individuals date to ~1800 CE. These differences are also reflected in stable isotope measurements, which reveal a distinct dietary profile for the two main groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Éadaoin Harney & Ayushi Nayak & Nick Patterson & Pramod Joglekar & Veena Mushrif-Tripathy & Swapan Mallick & Nadin Rohland & Jakob Sedig & Nicole Adamski & Rebecca Bernardos & Nasreen Broomandkhoshbac, 2019. "Ancient DNA from the skeletons of Roopkund Lake reveals Mediterranean migrants in India," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-11357-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11357-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11357-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-11357-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-11357-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.