Ancient genomics in India: Clarifying the maternal origins of 160-year-old human remains

Bandyopadhyay, Esha; Sehrawat, Jagmahender Singh; Rai, Niraj; Raghavan, Maanasa

doi:10.24870/cjb.2017-a1

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…A sum total of 4475 mandibular and maxillary teeth of all types have been used for pathological analyses in present study. The anthropological and radiological examinations, contextual items and the preliminary molecular findings supported the written versions that Ajnala skeletal remains belonged to young adult males (Sehrawat et al 2016(Sehrawat et al , 2017Bandyopadhyay et al 2017). The sex of individuals was assessed from overall size and robustness of skulls, femur heads, clavicles, prominent development of occipital protuberance (inion hook), brow ridges and confirmed by mtDNA analyses.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 55%

Dental health status of skeletal remains excavated from an abandoned well at Ajnala, India: a bioarchaeological study

Sehrawat

Singh

2018

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Present study was conducted to assess dental health status of the mid-19th century skeletal remains excavated from an abandoned ancient well and to scrutinize the demographic affiliations of the remains. Thousands of bones, teeth and contextual items were excavated non-scientifically from an abandoned well situated underneath a religious structure at Ajnala (Amritsar, India). Four thousands four hundred and seventy five teeth of each type were examined for presence of dental pathologies of caries, wear and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH). The frequency distribution of each pathological state was calculated for each tooth type using international dental standards available in the literature. The overall dental status was characteristic of young individuals having low prevalence of dental caries and enamel hypoplasiac lesions. Very few teeth had seriously exposed dentine and pulp cavity; indicating consumption of some cariogenic food items. The maxillary and posterior teeth were more affected with dental caries than the mandibular and anterior teeth. LEH defects were found more commonly distributed in the lower canines (44.9%) and upper incisors (34.8%) than their corresponding counterparts and statistically significant differences were noticed in LEH prevalence between anterior and, posterior dentition. The overall percentage of LEH has been found as 15.8%; with 15.4% maxillary and 16.2% mandibular teeth being affected with LEH. The paleodontogical examinations, contextual items and the preliminary molecular findings supported the written versions that victims of Ajnala skeletal remains had sound dental health status and probably belonged to adult males who were killed in 1857 as per written versions.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 55%

Dental health status of skeletal remains excavated from an abandoned well at Ajnala, India: a bioarchaeological study

Sehrawat

Singh

2018

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“…8). The comparisons of haplogroup frequencies with the generated database further reflected that studied teeth samples belonged to individuals belonging to the Indian states of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Awadh (eastern UP), Manipur, Meghalaya and few other north-eastern and coastal Indian states (Bandyopadhyay et al, 2017, Sehrawat andSankhyan, 2020). The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of mtDNA haplogroup frequencies signified that ma-jority of them belonged to present day Pakistan (N = 8), Iran (N = 6) and Central Asia (N = 4); the remaining showing their affinity to Indian states of Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Central and South Indians (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…The obtained haplogroups were compared with a database compiled from the published mtDNA sequences from modern South Asian individuals (Tamang et al, 2018). Studies from Pakistan and India were being considered in the database because these regions of South Asia have been widely studied and were part of the larger subcontinent prior to the partition (Bandyopadhyay et al, 2017)…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Ajnala skeletal remains using multiple forensic anthropological methods and techniques: A bioarchaeological report

Sehrawat

Rai²,

Meier‐Augenstein

2020

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Fragmented and badly damaged commingled human remains present a tough challenge for their identification pursuits in forensic anthropology. Thousands of unknown human remains along with items of contextual identity, reportedly belonging to 282 Indian sepoys killed in 1857, were exhumed non-scientifically from a disused ancient well at Ajnala (Amritsar, India). In this manuscript, the non-scientific excavation of unknown human remains from the abandoned well, their forensic anthropological strategies for identification purposes, challenges being faced and future possibilities of their biological profiling have been discussed. Multiple methods and techniques like anthropological examinations, odontological profiling, radiological analyses, stable isotope and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analyses were applied to few bones and teeth collected from the Ajnala skeletal assemblage. Though majority of studied bones and teeth were found belonging to adult males, very few of them had morphological, osteological and molecular features questioning the authenticity and validity of the written records. Due to certain ambiguous findings or gaps observed between the anthropological analyses of the Ajnala skeletal remains and the reported versions about their affiliations; certain advanced radiological, chemical and molecular techniques were applied to estimate their probable age, sex and populational affinity. The obtained radiological, isotopic and molecular signatures of the remains were compared with the available databases to estimate their affinity with the individuals of geographic area to whom the remains reportedly belonged to. The maternally inherited mtDNA haplogroup assignments, and stable isotope analysis of carbon and oxygen suggested that the studied human remains belonged to the individuals from West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Awadh (presently in Uttar Pradesh) and parts of Meghalaya and Manipur as potential regions of their geographic identity and thus, attributing the victims to be non-local to the site. However, merely on the basis of forensic anthropological examinations of very few bones and teeth (collected out of a huge collection of thousands of bones and teeth); it would be just an unqualified and sweeping conclusion to claim their identity as adult or non-adult, male or female, local or non-local, victims of 1857 mass killings or to the victims of ceremonial sacrifices or criminal activities committed in the past. A sufficient number of bones and teeth along with items of personal identity needs to be examined with multiple scientific techniques to arrive at some valid conclusions about their biological identity.

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Application of Trace Elemental Profile of Known Teeth for Sex and Age Estimation of Ajnala Skeletal Remains: a Forensic Anthropological Cross-Validation Study

Sehrawat

Singh

2019

Biol Trace Elem Res

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Ancient genomics in India: Clarifying the maternal origins of 160-year-old human remains

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

Dental health status of skeletal remains excavated from an abandoned well at Ajnala, India: a bioarchaeological study

Dental health status of skeletal remains excavated from an abandoned well at Ajnala, India: a bioarchaeological study

Identification of Ajnala skeletal remains using multiple forensic anthropological methods and techniques: A bioarchaeological report

Application of Trace Elemental Profile of Known Teeth for Sex and Age Estimation of Ajnala Skeletal Remains: a Forensic Anthropological Cross-Validation Study

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