New Research Reveals a More Diverse and Complex Heritage

In a small university lab in southern India, researchers are using advanced technology to recreate the faces of two 2,500-year-old skulls found in the ancient burial site of Kondagai. The skulls, belonging to two men, were discovered in the region of Tamil Nadu, in an excavation that has shed new light on the history of the Indian subcontinent.

According to researchers at Madurai Kamaraj University, the skulls were used as models to digitally reconstruct faces, which have revealed clues about the region’s early inhabitants. The facial reconstructions, created by experts at Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, show features that are predominantly those of Ancient Ancestral South Indians, a population group believed to be the first inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent.

However, the facial portraits also reveal traces of Middle-East Eurasian and Austro-Asiatic ancestries, hinting at global migration and the mixing of ancient population groups. “The message we can all take home is that we are more diverse than we realise, and the proof of this lies in our DNA,” says Professor G Kumaresan, who heads the genetics department at the university.

The research has sparked lively discussions on social media, with some users questioning the use of colours that matched physical traits of people currently living in Tamil Nadu. However, Prof Kumaresan says that the standard practice was followed, and the digital portraits aim to provide a more nuanced understanding of India’s complex history.

The findings are significant, as they challenge the popular belief that Indian civilisation took root in the north and shaped the rest of the country. The research suggests that an ancient independent civilisation existed in southern India as well, and that the people of Keeladi were literate, highly-skilled and engaged in trade across the subcontinent and abroad.

According to Prof Kumaresan, the people of Keeladi were involved in agriculture, trade and cattle-rearing. They kept deer, goats and wild pigs and ate lots of rice and millets. Interestingly, they also consumed dates, even though the date palm isn’t ubiquitous in Tamil Nadu at present. This suggests that the people of Keeladi had a sophisticated understanding of agriculture and trade.

The researchers are now working to study Keeladi as thoroughly as the Indus Valley Civilisation, which emerged over 5,000 years ago in the northern and central parts of present-day India. They are also attempting to extract DNA from human skeletons found at Kondagai, which would provide a valuable gene library and reveal fascinating insights about life as it was and life as we know it to be.

As Caroline Wilkinson, who headed the Face Lab team that worked on the Keeladi men, notes, “These facial depictions also encourage the audience to understand ancient remains as people rather than artefacts, and to establish a connection through personal narrative rather than a wider population history.” She adds, “Our ability to recognise and interpret faces is part of our success as a social species, and these facial depictions provide a unique window into the past.”

The research has also sparked a renewed interest in the history of the Indian subcontinent. According to Prof Kumaresan, the findings at Keeladi indicate that the region was more connected to the rest of the world than previously thought. He says, “The people of Keeladi were not isolated, but were part of a larger network of trade and cultural exchange that spanned the ancient world.”

Overall, the research at Madurai Kamaraj University is providing a more nuanced understanding of India’s complex history and the diversity of its ancient inhabitants. As Prof Kumaresan notes, “We want to understand our ancestry and the migration routes of our ancestors. It’s a journey towards answering the larger question of ‘who are we and how did we come to exist here’.”