The Hindu Business Line : CCMB cracks Roopkund mystery

A peep into the past: A researcher at work at the Ancient DNA Facility at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad. The country's first Ancient DNA Facility promises a better understanding of ancient history. -- A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , June 28

THE skeletons are finally out of the closet of the mysterious remains of `a set of ancient humans' near the snow-clad Roopkund Lake in the Himalayan heights of Uttaranchal.

Who were those 200-odd people buried in and around the 5,029-metre high lake, was the question that puzzled people ever since they came to light.

Were they Chinese? Were they pilgrims, amateur trekkers or an army of people accompanying a queen on a joyride or followers of General Zorawar Singh of Kashmir? These and many other questions tormented and fascinated people around the world for centuries.

The city-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has finally cracked the mystery shrouded in these skeletons and came out with several astonishing facts using modern Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) fingerprinting analysis.

Nestled in the lap of Trishul, one of the highest Himalayan peaks, the lake remains frozen for almost 11 months in a year. One can see those skeletons and flesh remains only when the snow melts.

The CCMB studies found that those skeletons belonged to Indians and not Chinese. An interesting aspect of the people dead in the 8th century is that they had an extra bone in the head. "Though a rare thing, we found such people in the country," said Dr Lalji Singh, Director of CCMB.

The institute even identified the probable region from where those people hailed.

Dr Singh, however, did not specify the region citing an agreement with the National Geographic. Yet another attribute of the Roopkund strangers were that they were quite tall and possibly belonged to the same family. About 30 specimens were being analysed with some more expected in the near future.

He said the institute signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) last week to conduct studies on nature and extent of genetic variation of ancient population in the Indian sub-continent.

The MoU also sought to reconstruct evolutionary history of man in India using molecular evidences and to examine the genomic contribution of the ancient people to the present population.

A database comprising information of genomic-diversity of ancient populations of the sub-continent would be built.

Earlier, Dr M.K. Bhan, Secretary of Department of Biotechnology (Govt of India), inaugurated a latest facility for CCMB's Ancient DNA Studies wing.

Addressing a gathering after the inaugural, Dr Bhan felt that India lacked mentoring. Calling for development of a model for problem solving, he said the scientist was just one aspect of the whole affair and other agencies in society needed to play a role. "There are large gaps. We need to bridge them."

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