骷髅湖的传说越来越离奇了

High in an uninhabited region of the Himalayan mountains of India lies a lake with a dark secret.

在印度喜马拉雅山脉无人居住的高处，有一个神秘的湖泊。

Known officially as Roopkund Lake, its notoriety has given rise to darker nicknames like Mystery Lake or Skeleton Lake. Covered in thick ice and snow for much of the year, Roopkund gives up its ghosts for only a few warm weeks of the year. It's then, in its clear blue-green waters and around its shores, when the remains of a disaster are revealed.

它的官方名称是鲁普昆德湖，它的恶名给它起了一些更黑暗的绰号，比如神秘湖或骷髅湖。在一年的大部分时间里，Roopkund都被厚厚的冰和雪覆盖着，一年中只有几个温暖的星期它才会放弃它的幽灵。然后，在它清澈的蓝绿色水域和周围的海岸，灾难的残骸被发现。

Roopkund Lake, the scene of what was once believed to be one of the world's deadliest hailstorms, is located at an altitude of 16,500 feet in India. (Photo: Vishwas Krishnamurthy/Shutterstock)

When a British park ranger happened upon the scene in 1942, he came across hundreds upon hundreds of skulls and bones. The lake sits at 16,500 feet (roughly 5,000 meters) above sea level. Because of the frigid cold of the region, many of the bodies still had hair, clothing and even flesh. The site of what appeared to be a relatively recent massacre was enough for the British government — which was in the thick of World War II — to assume a Japanese land invasion had gone awry.

1942年，一位英国公园管理员偶然发现了这个场景，他发现了成百上千的头骨和骨头。这个湖海拔16500英尺(约5000米。由于该地区的严寒，许多尸体仍然有头发、衣服，甚至还有肉。当时正值二战最激烈时期的英国政府认为，日本的土地入侵已经走错了路。

The slopes leading down to the lake are littered with human bones, some of which have been arranged like this. (Photo: Awanish Tirkey/Shutterstock)

An investigation calmed fears of an invasion after it was determined that the bones were of ancient origin, but the bigger mystery of what had killed hundreds of people remained. In 2004, a team sent by National Geographic discovered that not only were the remains from 850 A.D., but that the victims had all died the same way: severe blows to the head and shoulders.

在确定这些骨头来自古代之后，一项调查平息了人们对入侵的恐惧，但导致数百人死亡的更大谜团仍然存在。2004年，国家地理杂志派出的一个小组发现，这些化石不仅是公元850年的，而且所有的受害者都以同样的方式死去:头部和肩膀受到严重的打击。

But new research published in Nature Communications adds a dramatic twist to the story. Looking at the DNA of 38 of the bodies, scientists now say those who perished didn't die in one horrific moment. There are at least three genetically distinct groups represented in their research — a fraction of the hundreds of bodies discovered there — and they died in events that played out over more than 1,000 years.

但发表在《自然通讯》上的一项新研究给这个故事增添了戏剧性的转折。通过对38具尸体的DNA分析，科学家们表示，遇难者并不是在一个可怕的时刻死亡的。在他们的研究中，至少有三个基因上截然不同的群体——只是在那里发现的数百具尸体中的一小部分——他们死于1000多年前的事件。

But what about the hailstorm theory?

但是冰雹理论呢?

The hailstorm theory had weight for such a long time because it made sense based on what scientists first found. With no shelter to speak of and to avoid the stinging ice, dozens may have began climbing back up the steep incline surrounding Roopkund. Anthropologists studying the impressions left on skulls and bones say the hail quickly became deadly, with the killer blows coming from bowling-ball hail as large as 9 inches in diameter.

冰雹理论在很长一段时间内都很有分量，因为根据科学家们最初的发现，它是有意义的。由于没有避寒的地方，也没有躲避刺骨的冰雪，数十人可能已经开始沿着鲁普孔德周围的陡坡往回爬。研究头骨和骨头上的印记的人类学家说，冰雹很快就变得致命，致命的打击来自直径9英寸的保龄球冰雹。

Legend has it

传说

Hikers make their way around Roopkund. (Photo: Akash Dhyan/Shutterstock)

Based on a legend handed down by locals over the centuries, it's possible there may have been survivors who passed along the horror of what took place at Roopkund. The story goes that a medieval monarch named King Jasdhawal, on pilgrimage with his queen and royal entourage, disobeyed the Hindu goddess Mata.

根据几个世纪以来当地人流传下来的一个传说，有可能有幸存者将发生在鲁普昆德的恐怖事件传递给了其他人。故事是这样的:中世纪一位名叫贾斯哈瓦的国王，在他的王后和皇室随从的朝圣途中，不服从印度教的女神玛塔。

"So furious was the Mata, that she enlisted Latu a local deity," Dinesh Kuniyal, a local Hindu priest told IndiaHikes. "With Latu's help she created thunderstorms and avalanches. Huge hailstones rained down on the king's army. The army of Kannauj didn’t have a chance. All of them perished in Mata’s fury. It is their skeletons at the Roopkund lake."

当地印度教牧师迪内什库尼亚尔在接受印度徒步旅行采访时表示:“玛塔非常愤怒，她找来了一位当地神灵拉图。”在拉图的帮助下，她制造了雷暴和雪崩。大冰雹像雨点一样落在国王的军队上。坎瑙伊的军队没有机会了。他们都在玛塔的愤怒中死去。是他们在鲁普孔德湖的骸骨。”

More work to be done

还有更多的工作要做

Interestingly, the new team's work doesn't rule out the hailstorm theory completely.

有趣的是，新团队的工作并没有完全排除冰雹理论。

"Our study deepens the Roopkund mystery in many ways," study co-author Niraj Rai, head of the Ancient DNA Lab at Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences in India, told Vice in an email.

“我们的研究在很多方面加深了鲁普昆德之谜，”研究合著者、印度Birbal Sahni古科学研究所古DNA实验室主任Niraj Rai在一封电子邮件中告诉Vice。

In fact, the team will continue to study more of the human remains in an effort to find more clues to this ongoing mystery.

事实上，研究小组将继续研究更多的人类遗骸，试图找到更多线索来解开这个谜团。