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

Éadaoin Harney; Ayushi Nayak; Nick Patterson; Pramod Joglekar; Veena Mushrif-Tripathy; Swapan Mallick; Nadin Rohland; Jakob Sedig; Nicole Adamski; Rebecca Bernardos; Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht; Brendan J Culleton; Matthew Ferry; Thomas K Harper; Megan Michel; Jonas Oppenheimer; Kristin Stewardson; Zhao Zhang; Harashawaradhana; Maanwendra Singh Bartwal; Sachin Kumar; Subhash Chandra Diyundi; Patrick Roberts; Nicole Boivin; Douglas J Kennett; Kumarasamy Thangaraj; David Reich; Niraj Rai

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11357-9

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

Nat Commun. 2019 Aug 20;10(1):3670. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11357-9.

Authors

Éadaoin Harney^{1

2

3}, Ayushi Nayak⁴, Nick Patterson^{5

6}, Pramod Joglekar⁷, Veena Mushrif-Tripathy⁷, Swapan Mallick^{3

5

8}, Nadin Rohland³, Jakob Sedig³, Nicole Adamski^{3

8}, Rebecca Bernardos³, Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht^{3

8}, Brendan J Culleton^{9

10}, Matthew Ferry^{3

8}, Thomas K Harper¹⁰, Megan Michel^{3

8

11}, Jonas Oppenheimer^{3

8}, Kristin Stewardson^{3

8}, Zhao Zhang³, Harashawaradhana¹², Maanwendra Singh Bartwal¹², Sachin Kumar^{13

14}, Subhash Chandra Diyundi¹⁵, Patrick Roberts⁴, Nicole Boivin⁴, Douglas J Kennett¹⁶, Kumarasamy Thangaraj¹³, David Reich^{17

18

19

20}, Niraj Rai^{13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
² The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
³ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁴ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, D-07745, Jena, Germany.
⁵ Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142 USA, USA.
⁶ Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
⁷ Deccan College, Pune, 411006, India.
⁸ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁹ Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
¹¹ The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, D-07745, Jena, Germany.
¹² Anthropological Survey of India, North West Regional Centre, Dehradun, 248195, India.
¹³ CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500007, India.
¹⁴ Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 226007, India.
¹⁵ Gautam Budh Health Care Foundation, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201301, India.
¹⁶ Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
¹⁷ The Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA. [email protected].
¹⁸ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. [email protected].
¹⁹ Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02142 USA, USA. [email protected].
²⁰ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. [email protected].

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.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Body Remains / cytology*
DNA / genetics*
Diet
Fossils*
Human Migration
Humans
India
Mediterranean Region
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics
Racial Groups / genetics*
Radiometric Dating

Substances

DNA

Grants and funding

R01 GM100233/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States