Researchers in India’s Tamil Nadu have begun extracting DNA from 2,500-year-old human remains and unveiled digital facial reconstructions of two skulls from Kondagai to show how some of the first inhabitants of South India looked and to trace their origins and migrations. Using small drills, a team at Madurai Kamaraj University removed enamel from a tooth from one of the two male skulls discovered near the Keeladi archaeological complex; because the remains were very deteriorated, the DNA yield was low and of poor quality. The goal was to build an ancient DNA library to better understand lifestyle and origin, with a longer-term plan to create a gene library from human bones, according to LIFO.
The skulls, found at Kondagai about 4 kilometers from the Keeladi site, were analyzed in collaboration with the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University. The reconstruction began with 3D scans sent to Liverpool, where experts used software to add muscles, skin, and color based on anatomical proportions and modern anthropometric data of Tamil Nadu residents, producing digital craniofacial faces using forensic, artistic, and scientific techniques. “Humans have a special attraction to faces. Our ability to recognize and understand faces makes us successful as a social species,” said Carolyn Wilkinson, who led the Face Lab team working on the men from Keeladi. “The images of these faces help the audience understand ancient remains not just as objects, but as people, and encourage them to establish a connection with them through personal narratives rather than the history of a large population,” she said.
The first reconstructions showed features associated with ancient South Indian ancestors and also suggested Eurasian and Austro-Asiatic influences, including traces of Middle Eastern Eurasian ancestry, indicating migrations and mixtures of ancient populations, according to Newsam. “The main message is that India’s past is much more diverse than is commonly believed, and the proof of that is in the DNA,” said Professor G. Kumaresan, head of the Department of Genetics at Madurai Kamaraj University. “These faces primarily show the features of ancient South Indian people,” Kumaresan said.
Extracting sufficient DNA from the Kondagai remains to create a genetic library was the team’s most challenging task. “It is a journey to answer the biggest question: ‘Who are we and how did we get here?’” Kumaresan said, adding that “We want to understand the origin and migration patterns of our ancestors”. “Ancient DNA libraries are doors to going back in time; they can bring fascinating information about how life was and how we experience it today,” he said. He said he was optimistic that useful results would follow.
Archaeologists from the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department said evidence at Keeladi indicated an urban civilization dating to around 580 BCE, with houses made of baked bricks and drainage systems. Researchers said the inhabitants appeared to be literate, possessed skills, and engaged in trade across the subcontinent and beyond. Studies also described agriculture, trade, and animal husbandry: they cultivated rice and cereals, raised deer, goats, and wild boars, and ate rice and lentils, with evidence they also ate dates. Burials at and around the site included large burial jars and niches containing food grains and everyday objects to preserve the ashes of the deceased, with about 50 such artifacts found.
The digital images sparked vigorous discussion on social media about skin, eye, and hair color and about India’s diversity and history, drawing attention to long-standing divisions around caste, culture, and heritage. The debate reignited disputes over the north-south divide and the origins of the first Indians, challenging narratives that see the roots of Indian urbanization to only be associated with the north and the Indus Valley civilization, underscoring that South India had independent, developed cultures.
This was not the first attempt to reconstruct ancient faces in India. In 2019, scientists reconstructed the faces of two skulls from a cemetery at Rakhigarhi, Haryana, an important site of the Indus Valley Civilization, but those sketches did not include colors and other physical features. At Madurai Kamaraj University, researchers said work was underway to deepen the study of Keeladi to provide a detailed estimate of how residents lived, with more research needed to address the ancestors of Keeladi’s residents.
Produced with the assistance of a news-analysis system.