Roopkund Lake
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| Geographical location | Uttarakhand ( India ) | |
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| Coordinates | 30 ° 15 '43 " N , 79 ° 43' 55" E | |
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| Altitude above sea level | 5029 m | |
The Roopkund Lake ( Hindi रूपकुंड ), also called Skeleton Lake ( Hindi कंकाल झील , " Skeleton Lake ") or Mystery Lake , is a shallow, small mountain lake in the Himalayas .
It is located at 5029 m in the Chamoli district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand . The lake is located in the catchment area of the Nandakini .
Skeleton finds
Hundreds of skeletons of men, women and children have been discovered in the lake. The lake is frozen over and covered in snow for most of the year, so the skeletons only emerge after the summer snowmelt.
The skeletons were discovered by a forest ranger in 1942 and have long puzzled science. According to speculation, the dead were soldiers, pilgrims or a Chinese caravan who were caught by a snowstorm, a landslide or were carried away by an epidemic.
In 2003 the American National Geographic Society commissioned a study. The age of some skeletons was determined using the radiocarbon method ; they date from the 9th century. The cause of death could also be explained: the people were presumably perished in a huge hailstorm with objects the size of cricket balls . In 2019, detailed DNA analyzes, isotope measurements and radiocarbon dating by the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad (CCMB) on the remains of 71 skeletons revealed that 23 of the dead came from different regions of India. Century. Another group of 14 skeletons, however, came from the Mediterranean region and was significantly younger, deceased in the 17th to 20th centuries. From this it follows that people must have died in at least two events that were around 1,000 years apart.
Web links
- Roopkund Lake on the Chamoli District website
- The riddle of the bone lake at Spiegel Online from August 20, 2019
- Harney, E., Nayak, A., Patterson, N. et al. : Ancient DNA from the skeletons of Roopkund Lake reveals Mediterranean migrants in India . In: Nature Communications . tape 10 , no. 3670 , August 10, 2019, doi : 10.1038 / s41467-019-11357-9 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roopkund lake's skeleton mystery solved! Scientists reveal bones belong to 9th century people who died during heavy hail storm . In: India Today , May 31, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
- ↑ Nadja Podbregar: Himalaya: Skeleton Lake is a riddle . In: scinexx | The knowledge magazine . August 21, 2019 ( scinexx.de [accessed August 22, 2019]).