High in the Indian Himalayas, Lake Rupkund (aka "Skull Lake") is one of the most bizarre and mysterious locations in archaeology. It is frozen for most of the year, but when the ice melted, the skeletal remains of hundreds of people were exposed. Previous studies of large numbers of bones found these people tended to be "above average" in height. Most are middle-aged, and some are elderly women without children. All are fairly healthy.
They were first discovered in 1942. The discovery immediately sparked a big debate, and these human bones have puzzled historians, scientists and archaeologists around the world like a mystery. Since then, people have been trying to find out the answer to this puzzle. Who are these people? How can you die in this inconspicuous place?
One of the studies was conducted by scientists from various countries led by cultural anthropologist Wilhelm Sachs of the University of Heidelberg in Germany. After a long journey, they came to this alpine lake, trying to solve the mystery of this mysterious and terrifying "Human Bone Lake". Scientific tests have shown that the skeletons date back to about 850 AD. Due to the cold local climate, some of the hair, meat and leather clothing of the deceased were preserved. Through in-depth study of the bodies, scientists have discovered that the cause of these deaths may have been the deadliest mass hailstorm in history. All of these victims suffered fatal blows to their skulls and no other bones were injured, so it is certain that something fell from above and killed them, most likely a massive hailstorm. .
Mysterious Skull Lake in the Indian Himalayas
Are they really the king and his followers who died in a blizzard centuries ago? Or the Indian soldiers who intended to invade Tibet in 1841? Victim of an epidemic? Traveler or pilgrim? Are they really killed by the giant hailstone? Or some other reason? A recent study deepens the mystery.
The extensive international study carried out carbon dating and genetic analysis of 38 remains, both male and female. It appears that the dead were all genetically diverse, and they died 1,000 years apart from each other (the oldest remains are around 1,200 years old). Some of them are genetically similar to people now living in South Asia (though not from the same population), while others are closely related to people now living in Europe, especially those living on the Greek island of Crete .
"This overturns any explanation for a single catastrophic event that led to their deaths," said the study's lead author, Aidouin Haney, of Harvard University.
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