Strontium isotope analysis adds new chapter to history

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 20

Since 166-year-old human skeletal and dental remains were exhumed from an ancient well at Ajnala in Amritsar district in 2014, the identification and geographic origin of the remains have been a matter of intense debate among the scientific community.

Dr JS Sehrawat from Panjab University, Dr Niraj Rai and Dr Shailesh Agrawal from Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP, Lucknow) and Prof Vaughan Grimes and Dr Andrew P Kenney from Memorial University (Newfoundland, Canada) participated in the research, which was featured in the International Journal of Legal Medicine on October 18. The study revealed that the skeletons belonged to soldiers belonging to the Eastern Gangetic plains.

The results were arrived at following the use of stable isotopes for mass scale forensic identification for the first time in the country. The findings are expected to provide baseline data for future forensic provenance studies and further contribute to the global efforts made for mapping strontium (Sr) isotope variations by the scientists working on isotopes, said Dr Sehrawat and Dr Rai.

The researchers used Sr isotope ratios obtained from 27 teeth samples for analysis, which backs the finding that human skeletons found in the well did not belong to people who lived in and around Ajnala. Instead, strontium isotope abundances matched the water sources, cereals and rock samples of Gangetic plains in UP, Bihar and West Bengal, as per Dr Sehrawat.

Strontium isotope analysis results revealed that these individuals were not the natives of Amritsar region and had come from the Gangetic plains.

Dr Niraj Rai, lead researcher from BSIP and an expert on ancient DNA, said scientific research by this team helps look at the historical events from a more evidence-based scientific perspective.

Dr Sehrawat said these present findings would prove a landmark reference for future provenance studies aimed at estimating geo-location of unknown human remains using strontium isotope analysis in Indian contexts. He claimed that it will add an important chapter in the history of the unsung heroes killed during India’s first freedom struggle.

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