In the 1940s an explorer happened upon a frozen lake filled with skeletons in the remote Himalayas. And his discovery would spark a mystery that would remain unsolved for more than 60 years.

Image: via BCMTouring/BulletBaba — Image: via BCMTouring

It’s the middle of World War II, and a ranger is exploring new territory high up in the Himalayas. And as the man treks a little further, he comes across a glacial lake, with its cool, calm waters reflecting the stunning mountain landscape around him. When the ranger looks a little closer at his new surroundings, though, he realizes that there is something truly horrifying about this place.

Image: via BCMTouring/BulletBaba — Image: via BCMTouring

Disturbingly, the wanderer can see hundreds of bones all around the shores of the lake. There are countless more examples of human remains frozen motionless in the icy waters, too. And after witnessing the shocking scene, the man wonders what kind of awful tragedy this lake has borne witness to.

Image: via BCMTouring/BulletBaba — Image: via BCMTouring

The ranger in question was H. K. Madhwal, and he made his gruesome discovery in 1942 while patrolling the Nanda Devi game reserve in Uttarakhand, India. The lake itself, meanwhile, is situated 16,500 feet up in the beautiful Himalayan mountains.

And when the site had been thoroughly investigated and the final count of the remains was made, it was believed that there were over 200 skeletons present. Not all of these sets of bones would have been apparent to Madhwal, however, as some were only revealed when the lake had defrosted.

So, while the body of water’s official name is Roopkund, Madhwal’s discovery has earned it an altogether more macabre moniker: “Skeleton Lake.” By contrast, another nickname for Roopkund is much tamer; to some, it’s known as “Mystery Lake.”

You see, at first there was considerable mystery as to how so much death had been caused in one specific area. Among the earliest theories, though, was that the bones had once belonged to Japanese armed forces. These soldiers had perished, the hypothesis goes, as they attempted to pass through India.

This assumption in turn led to the Allies ordering a study both of the lake and of the skeletons that surrounded it. But, ultimately, researchers found that these were not the remains of lost enemy soldiers after all; they were far more intriguing than that, in fact.

For one, the investigation revealed that the skeletons were far too old to have once belonged to contemporary soldiers. Yes, although the hair and skin on the remains may have been frozen in time by the cold conditions, the bones themselves had already been at the lake for a very long time.

And even though it was Madhwal’s discovery that brought Roopkund once again into the spotlight, there have apparently been accounts of skeletons being discovered at the location from as early as the 1800s. Yet the reason why the bones were there continued to be an enigma until the 21st century.

Mind you, people had given the curious mystery some thought in the intervening century. In fact, throughout the years, a plethora of explanations had been put forward to explain how so many people had died by the side of an isolated lake.

One such theory was that a freak, widespread illness could have wiped these unfortunate individuals out; another account, meanwhile, pointed to a potential natural disaster as the collective cause of death. Even ceremonial mass suicide was used as a way of justifying the sheer number of skeletons at Roopkund.

Then in 2004 one particularly believable explanation came to light. This theory had been pieced together by a team of scientists from India’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, and ultimately it came to be hailed by numerous media outlets as the true interpretation of the remains.

During their investigation, experts at the center had analyzed DNA from the skeletons and subsequently determined that the bones had come from two distinct groups. One faction was said to have been comprised of smaller people who were local to the region; the other, meanwhile, was apparently made up of several taller individuals – all of whom could potentially have been related.

Based on the information that they’d gathered, then, the experts put forth a theory regarding the larger skeletons: these were the remains of a family in the midst of making a pilgrimage. And the smaller people? Well, it was supposed that they may have been guides accompanying the clan on their trek.

The scientists also dated the remains, with the results of these tests subsequently leading them to believe that the bones may have once belonged to people who had been alive in as far back as the middle of the ninth century. And to top it all off, the researchers claimed that they’d figured out what had ultimately caused the unlucky individuals to meet their deaths.

Curiously, to the experts, it seemed that all of the people had been killed in the exact same manner: through blows to their skulls and shoulders. The precise positioning of the injuries suggested, moreover, that the hits must have come from overhead. And perhaps most strangely of all, it appeared as though the objects that had struck these people had been somewhat spherical in shape.

Intriguingly, this finding tied into some of the folklore that surrounded Roopkund. One myth in particular concerned the unfortunate fate of Raja Jasdhaval, the king of Kanauj, who had once been on a pilgrimage in the area.

The legend claims that King Jasdhaval’s route took himself, his wife – who was pregnant at the time – and their underlings past the shores of Roopkund. Yet it’s said that the group’s presence angered the mountain goddess, and the deity took her dreadful revenge by raining down massive hailstones upon the interlopers.

And, amazingly, this was believed to have been the same fate that had befallen the victims discovered at Roopkund. Yes, after studying the skeletons in 2004, the scientists concluded that the individuals had died as the result of the impact of enormous hailstones. It appeared, in fact, that those people had been caught out in the open during a freak storm.

In addition, it was believed that the blows that the victims subsequently received had been strong enough to kill them. Then, following that tragic event, the individuals’ remains are thought to have laid in place for many generations. Thanks to the work of the experts, though, it seemed that the mystery of the Roopkund skeletons had finally been solved.

But, ultimately, that wasn’t quite the case, as in August 2019 a further report on the matter was published that seemingly blew this neat conclusion out of the water. Yes, the new inquiry – which had been worked on by experts from all around the globe – appeared to challenge the notion that the people discovered at Roopkund had all perished during the same period.

More specifically, the results of the study came to light after they were presented in the scientific journal Nature Communications. And a rather sizeable number of researchers had been involved in the project, too, with a total of 28 specialists from the U.S., India and Europe all having taken part.

Now, one of the writers of the report was Niraj Rai, who is a scientist at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in the Indian city of Lucknow. And interestingly, Rai had been part of the investigation into the Roopkund mystery for some time, having initially become involved as a member of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.

What’s more, Rai and his colleagues have come to an intriguing conclusion in their report – which was the fruit of more than ten years of work. The theory once widely touted as the correct explanation for Roopkund’s skeletons isn’t completely accurate, the study surmises; instead, it seems that the situation is actually a little more complicated.

The authors of the report point out, for example, that the remains had failed to be appropriately analyzed over the years. “Little is known about the origin of these skeletons, as they have never been subjected to systematic anthropological or archaeological scrutiny,” they wrote. “In part [this is] due to the disturbed nature of the site, which is frequently affected by rockslides and which is often visited by local pilgrims and hikers who have manipulated the skeletons.”

However, the researchers sought to remedy this lack of adequate testing on the human skeletons by initiating a number of what they called “bioarcheological analyses.” These practices saw the group utilize techniques such as carbon dating as well as studying and acquiring DNA from the bones themselves.

In order to obtain enough DNA for their experiments, then, the specialists had to bore into large bones belonging to 38 of the skeletons. After that, they isolated the relevant genetic material from the powder produced during the process. And in addition, the group managed to use carbon-dating methods on 37 sets of remains.

As a consequence of these tests, the scientists discovered that the 38 skeletons had belonged to members of both sexes. According to the team, 23 of these people had been men, while the other 15 had been women. Furthermore, contrary to what had previously been believed, none of the individuals appeared to have actually been related to one another.

From their examinations, the researchers also bypassed the notion that the people had passed away as the result of illness. Their report claims, in fact, that there were no signs that any of the individuals had been stricken by harmful or infectious bacteria. Nevertheless, the specialists admitted that there was a possibility they had simply missed any definite proof of disease.

And while the scientists stated that “the Roopkund individuals were broadly healthy,” three sets of remains notably differed in one respect to the others. This macabre trio all demonstrated signs of having been previously injured, as each skeleton exhibited evidence of broken bones.

The authors asserted, too, that these compound fractures could very well have been sustained through a hailstone storm. Still, that’s not to say that the original theory was right all along, as the researchers also claimed that it’s possible something else entirely was to blame. And in any case, the group uncovered further pieces of evidence that seemingly challenged the hypothesis from 2004.

Back then, it was argued that the people of Roopkund had perished as a result of one particular tragedy – but the more recent research suggested otherwise. Those who had worked on the 2019 article believed instead that the skeletons had actually belonged to three different factions of people – the first of whom apparently had South Asian ancestry.

Image: Priyanka Haldar Photography/Getty Images

The individuals from the second faction, on the other hand, had what the writers called “West Eurasian-related ancestry.” In short, they shared similar roots to many people who had lived in the Near East, Europe and Iran. But a number of remains from this group were traced specifically to the Mediterranean.

By contrast, the third faction was made up of just one skeleton. And, fascinatingly, the person to which the bones had once belonged had seemingly been of a different genetic background entirely to the others. This individual is thought to have “East Asian-related ancestry” – in a similar manner to natives of countries such as Japan, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

While speaking to National Geographic in August 2019, co-author Éadaoin Harney elaborated on her and her colleagues’ surprise at the find. “When we actually got the DNA back, it was super clear that some of these were not individuals with typical South Asian ancestry,” she said. “[That was] definitely not something we were expecting at all.”

But perhaps most stunningly of all, the remains were apparently from different eras. The skeletons with South Asian heritage, for example, seemingly date back to between the seventh century and tenth century A.D. Yet the other sets of bones are far more recent, appearing to originate from between the 17th and 20th centuries.

So, roughly a millennium passed before the skeletons in the first group were joined by those in the second and third. But how and why exactly did they come to be together? Well, the authors of the study are currently at a loss for an explanation. Rai revealed as much to National Geographic, saying, “[We have] failed to answer why Mediterranean people were traveling to this lake and what they were doing here.”

Nonetheless, theories have been put forward, with one even harking back to the previous suggestion that the people had all been killed by hailstones. This incident, it’s been claimed, may have happened during a Hindu pilgrimage. Yet Heidelberg University anthropologist William Sax has challenged this notion. He told National Geographic that it “wouldn’t make any sense” for visitors of Mediterranean origin to have ended up at Roopkund.

And it would indeed have been unusual for a Hindu pilgrimage to have attracted a group from that part of the world. After all, the religion wasn’t widely practiced in the travelers’ home region back then – nor is it popular in the area today. In essence, then, the Roopkund skeletons have once again taken on some of the air of mystery that defined them before 2004.

Image: Facebook/Places To Visit Before You Die

Plans are afoot, however, to conclusively get to the bottom of the riddle, as further studies are scheduled to take place at Roopkund in 2020. This time around, the focus will be on objects related to the remains. And with any luck, these valuable items could help finally put the matter to rest.

But what of other strange skeleton discoveries? Well, there’s no shortage of them, it turns out. Near Frankfurt, Germany, for instance, experts uncovered a 7,000-year-old ditch containing the mangled remains of 26 people. And the extraordinary find has thrown brand-new light on how our ancestors lived – and died.

Farming came to Central Europe in the early Neolithic age – about 7,500 years ago. Archaeologists call that period the “linear pottery culture” because the people of the time, who were settled in small villages and sustained themselves by primitive farming, made ceramic vessels with characteristic linear patterns.

However, when it comes to knowing these people’s beliefs and culture, we are largely in the dark. After all, they lived and died 7,000 years ago and left no written records. And so, even the most eminent archaeologists have historically had no choice but to fall back on educated speculation.

Image: D. Groneborn, Römisches Germanisches Zentralmuseum

Now fast-forward to 2006. A gang of road workers were digging at Schöneck-Kilianstädten, about 12 miles from the city of Frankfurt in Germany. Then, out of the blue, their tools turned up something from the earth that came as a complete shock. There, strewn in a ditch, the workers found a collection of human bones; and at that stage, of course, the age of the bones was impossible to know.

Understandably disturbed by this unexpected discovery of human remains, then, the workers downed tools and informed the authorities. So, the bones were subsequently removed from the ground, packaged in newspaper and sent to the University of Mainz; and there, a team led by bio-archaeologist Christian Meyer examined them.

Meyer and his team eventually established that the bones were some 7,000 years old, from the linear pottery culture era we’ve already heard about. Furthermore, despite the fact that the human remains were in an advanced state of decay, it was nevertheless clear that they had originally been thrown into a ditch and then covered with soil.

More specifically, the bones from 26 skeletons of both adults and children had been dumped into a V-shaped ditch just over 20 feet long. But this was no normal linear pottery culture burial. Usually, the people of the time buried their dead in individual graves in cemeteries, often leaving pottery and other goods with the departed. These bodies, however, appeared to have been carelessly tossed into their last resting place.

What’s more, the 26 individuals had clearly not died peacefully in their beds. Fractured skulls exhibited telltale signs of having been smashed in with rudimentary stone age weapons. Animal bone arrowheads were also found embedded in some of the remains. These people, perhaps an entire village, had been violently murdered.

Just as horrifically, there were also signs that these unfortunate people may have been tortured. Many of them had had their shin bones brutally smashed, although it’s impossible to ascertain whether this had been done before or after death. Yet if it did occur when the victims were alive, then this would be evidence of previously unknown levels of barbarity from this era.

University of Illinois anthropologist Lawrence Keeley is skeptical of the torture theory, however. Talking to The Guardian, he said, “Torture focuses on the parts of the body with the most nerve cells: the feet, pubis, hands and head. I can’t think of anywhere that torture involved breaking the tibia.”

Meanwhile, Meyer himself said, “Such mutilations were done to prevent enemy spirits from following home, haunting or doing mischief to the killers. These motives seem most likely to me. Or perhaps it was done to further revenge by crippling the enemy’s spirits in the afterlife.” Whatever the explanation, though, this was evidence of shocking brutality.

One other noticeable thing about the human bones found in the ditch was that there were no remains of young women among them. Potentially shedding light on this, the archaeologists told The Guardian that while everyone else from the village was killed, the young women might have been abducted. The researchers added that the women may have been valued as potential child bearers.

Keeley also expanded upon this theory about the fate of the women. “The only reasonable interpretation of these cases, as here, is that a whole typically-sized linear pottery culture hamlet or small village was wiped out by killing the majority of its inhabitants and kidnapping the young women,” he said.

And there is other evidence that this was an organized raid conducted with the intention of wiping out a small community. You see, the location of the village and the massacre was near to a boundary that formed a dividing line between two tribes. This could, therefore, have made conflict all the more likely.

The linear pottery culture people had spread westwards from the Middle East in this period of the Neolithic era. Farmers were clearing the land for cultivation and creating settled communities. This in turn meant that in some locations land would have been at a premium, intensifying competition for resources. And this competition could have potentially led to open warfare.

Evidence of conflicts does in fact exist from other linear pottery culture sites where mass graves have been discovered. One example, also in modern Germany – and known as the Talheim death pit – came to light in 1983. The grave at Talheim had 34 sets of human remains, including those of 16 children.

Furthermore, some of the skeletons at Talheim exhibited clear signs of old wounds that had healed, which could suggest that violent conflicts were not uncommon. That said, the bones also showed signs of traumas that certainly must have been the causes of death. Many of the skulls had suffered wounds indicating blows with stone adzes; some also appeared to have been hit by arrows.

Another mass grave was also uncovered at Schletz-Asparn in modern-day Austria, some 20 miles north of Vienna. The number of bodies disinterred there was 67, but only part of the site has been excavated, and the burial pit may contain as many as 300. The 67 that have been examined all showed clear signs of violent death, however.

Just as at the Schöneck-Kilianstädten site, the Schletz-Asparn grave contained a disproportionate number of men; this again indicates that women may have been abducted rather than slaughtered. Archaeologists also uncovered evidence that this site had been fortified. And this would suggest that people lived in a state where they felt the need to protect themselves – perhaps from violent raids by neighboring communities.

So, what does all of this compelling evidence of violence, mayhem and murder tell us? Archaeologist Christian Meyer told The Guardian, “On one hand you are curious about finding out more about this, but also shocked to see what people can do to each other.” He believes that the people who committed the massacre wanted to demonstrate their power by slaughtering an entire community.

And Lawrence Keeley says these massacres show that the idea of ancient communities living together in peace is a fantasy. Speaking to The Guardian, he said, “This represents yet another nail in the coffin of those who have claimed that war was rare or ritualized or less awful in prehistory or, in this instance, the early Neolithic.”