 In 1942, one of the most unnerving and mysterious discoveries in recent history was made in the Himalayas by a group of British forest guards on expedition. The immediate assumption in 1942 was that these were the remains of Japanese soldiers who had died of exposure while sneaking through India in World War II. The British government terrified of a Japanese land invasion sent a team of investigators to determine if this was true. Some 16,000 feet above sea level at the bottom of a small valley was a frozen lake absolutely full of skeletons. The British conducted experiments on-site that summer. The ice melting revealed even more skeletal remains, floating in the water and lying haphazardly around the lake's edges. Something horrible had happened here. But what? However, upon examination, they realized these bones were not from Japanese soldiers, but had laid at this location for over a thousand years. It was evident that the bones were quite old indeed, but the age was not apparent as bodily features remained preserved by the dry, cold air and no one could properly determine exactly when they were from. Maybe clues could be found if they could figure out just what had killed over 200 people in this small valley in a remote location a thousand years earlier. Many theories were put forth including an epidemic, landslide and ritual suicide. For decades, no one was able to shed light on the mystery of Skeleton Lake. However, a 2004 expedition to the site seems to have finally revealed the mystery of what caused these people's death. The answer, as you can imagine, was stranger than anyone had dared guess. According to Max Planck, Institute of the Science of Human History, a large-scale study has been conducted by an international team of scientists who have now revealed that the mysterious skeletons of Rootkin Lake that were once thought to have died during a single catastrophic event are actually belonging to genetically highly distinct groups that died in multiple periods in at least two episodes separated by 1,000 years. The study published this week in Nature Communications involved an international team of 28 researchers from institutions in India, the United States and Europe. Senior author of the project, Naraj Raj States. Rootkin Lake has long been subject to speculation about who these individuals were, what brought them to this place and how they died. However, little is known about the origins of the skeletons as they have never been subject to systematic anthropological or archaeological scrutiny, in part due to the disturbed nature of the site, which is frequently affected by rock slides and which is often visited by local pilgrims and hikers who have manipulated the skeletons and removed many of the artifacts. The current publication, the final product of a more than decade-long study that presents the first whole genome, ancient DNA data from India, reveals that the site has even more complex history than imagined. Scientists sequenced genomes from 38 skeletons revealing surprising results. While 23 had ancestry typical of South Asia, 14 were from the Eastern Mediterranean and one individual was found to have Southeast Asian ancestry. The first author of the project at Harvard University is quoted as saying that we were extremely surprised by the genetics of the skeletons. The presence of individuals with ancestries typically associated with the Eastern Mediterranean suggests that Rootkin Lake was not just a site of local interest, but instead drew visitors from across the globe, even in antiquity. The findings also revealed a second surprise about the skeletons of Rootkin Lake. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the skeletons were not deposited at the same time as previously assumed. Instead, the study finds that the two major genetic groups were actually deposited approximately a thousand years apart. First, during the 7th and 10th centuries CE, individuals with Indian-related ancestry died at Rootkin, possibly during several distinct events. It was not until sometime during the 17th and 20th centuries that the other two groups, likely composed of travelers from the Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia, arrived at Rootkin Lake. This finding shows the power of radiocarbon dating, as it had previously been assumed that the skeletons at Rootkin Lake were the result of a single catastrophic event, says co-senior author Douglas J. Kinnit of the University of California. So there you have it guys, under certain conditions and allowing time to take hold of the ages, these type of discoveries are only allowed to exist because of the entrapment of preservation. Other skulls recently unearthed in Croatia are described as alien in origin. We will post a link to those findings as well below guys where you can let us know what you are thinking on the matter. And as always, thank you for watching.