一詞：喜馬拉雅山上最詭異的景點，因一項研究變得更詭異了

n. 假設

High in the Himalayas of India, amid the snow-capped peaks, nestles a mystery. 

印度區域的喜馬拉雅山高地，白雪覆蓋的山巔之中，棲息着一個謎。

Roopkund Lake is a shallow body of water filled with human bones - the skeletons of hundreds of individuals. 

路普康湖水體很淺，充滿着人骨--數百個人的骷髏。

It's these that give the lake its other name, Skeleton Lake, and no one knows how the remains came to be there.

因此這個湖有了另一個名字，骷髏湖。沒人知道這些遺骸是如何到達這裏的。

One hypothesis is that some catastrophe, a single event such as a powerful storm, had befallen a large group of people. But DNA analysis of 38 of the skeletons has turned that idea on its head.

一個假說是某些災難降臨了一大羣人，比如說強風暴這樣的單次事件。但是對38具骷髏的DNA分析完全改變了這個說法的思路。

The remains appear to come from distinct groups of people from as far as the Mediterranean, and they arrived at the lake several times over a 1,000-year span.

遺骸似乎來自不同的人羣，最遠的來自地中海。他們在1000年的期限中好幾次到達了這個湖。

"Through the use of biomolecular analyses, such as ancient DNA, stable isotope dietary reconstruction, and radiocarbon dating, we discovered that the history of Roopkund Lake is more complex than we ever anticipated," said geneticist David Reich of Harvard Medical School.

“通過使用生物分子分析，比如遠古DNA、穩定同位素膳食重建以及放射性碳定年法，我們發現路普康湖的歷史比我們預料的更爲複雜。“哈佛醫學院的基因學家大衛·賴希說道。

The story began to unfold a decade ago. Geneticist Kumarasamy Thangaraj of India's CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of 72 of the skeletons.

十年前，這個故事開始展開。印度科學與工業研究委員會細胞與分子生物中心的基因學家Kumarasamy Thangaraj測定了72具骷髏的線粒體DNA。

As Thangaraj and his late colleague Lalji Singh had expected, some of the skeletons had DNA consistent with a local Indian origin. 

正如Thangaraj和他已故的同事Lalji Singh預料的那樣，有些骷髏的DNA與當地印度裔一致。

But some did not. Several skeletons appeared to have originated around West Eurasia.

但有些不是。幾具骷髏似乎是起源於西歐亞大陸。

This analysis revealed three distinct groups. The largest consisted of 23 individuals with DNA similar to that of people from present-day India. Apart from this, they seemed genetically unrelated.

這項分析揭露了三個不同的羣。最大羣體有23人，基因與現代印度人相似。除此之外，他們在基因上似乎毫無聯繫。

The second-largest group, comprising 14 individuals, was a huge surprise. Their DNA was most similar to people in present-day Crete and Greece.

第二大羣有14人，很令人驚訝。他們的DNA與現今克里特和希臘的人最爲相似。

Finally, the one remaining individual had DNA suggesting a Southeast Asian origin.

最後，剩下的一個人的DNA表明他有東南亞血統。

Even more surprising was the staggered arrival times of the groups. Radiocarbon dating placed the Indian-related bones between the 7th and 10th centuries CE. 

更讓人驚訝的是這些羣體到來的 時間。放射性碳定年法表明，印度血統的骨頭年代在公元7世紀和10世紀之間。

It's possible they were divided into different groups at different times within this timespan.

有可能他們在這個時間期限內被劃分爲不同時間的不同羣組。

But the other two groups, from the Mediterranean and from Southeast Asia, were dated to between the 17th and 20th centuries CE. 

但是另外兩個來自地中海和東南亞的羣組年代在公元17世紀至20世紀之間。

That's just a few hundred years ago. And it's possible that the remains that haven't been tested could include other groups, from other times and other regions.

距現在只有幾百年。有可能沒有檢測過的遺骸包括其他年代其他地區的其他羣組。

I have no patience with the hypothesis that babies are born pretty much alike.

我最受不了那種認爲初生嬰兒大都一個樣的胡亂猜測。

We have no substantial evidence to support this hypothesis. 

我們缺少事實根據來支持這種假說。