A tiny alien-like skeleton with a somewhat squashed head was found in the Atacama Desert of Chile a decade ago, creating an interesting medical mystery that scientists have puzzled over to determine the origins of the mummified skeleton.
When the skeleton was first discovered, many wondered if it was an alien that had landed on Earth, though that was never suggested by any of the scientists studying the remains.
Scientists have now completed DNA testing, which has given some answers as to the origin of the skeleton. They have determined the remains belonged to a human that may have been between six and eight years of age at the time of death. The remains were only six inches long.
"While the jury is out regarding the mutations that cause the deformity, and there is a real discrepancy in how we account for the apparent age of the bones," Gary Nolan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, told LiveScience, "Every nucleotide I've been able to look at is human.
"I've only scratched the surface in the analysis," Nolan continued. "But there is nothing that jumps out so far as to scream 'nonhuman.'"
Nolan worked with his colleagues to analyze the remains in the fall of 2012 using high-resolution photography, X-rays and computed tomography scans. They also used DNA sequencing. The researchers were attempting to determine if a rare disorder could explain the skeleton, which was highly abnormal in ways other than size. It had only 10 ribs, rather than the usual 12. They also hoped to determine the age at death. The scientists hypothesized that it might be a preterm fetus, a stillborn baby or a deformed child. They were even checking to see if there was a possibility that it was a nonhuman South American primate.
While the genome sequencing reflected the fact that the organism was human, nine percent of the genes did not match up to normal human sequencing. The mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down on the maternal side, suggested the organism was from the Atacama region, specifically from a group called the B2 haplotype group, a group that is found on the west coast of South America.
The scientists have not determined definitively what caused the deformations, and they have been unable to determine conclusively the age of the remains. They estimate that the individual died at least a few decades ago.
They have also been unable to find a genetic basis for the deformity.
It is "not apparent at this level of resolution and at this stage of the analysis," Nolan said.
"There is no known dwarfism that accounts for all of the anomalies seen in this specimen," Ralph Lachman, a professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Medicine and a clinical professor at Stanford University, wrote in a paper to Nolan, according to NBC Science.
"It's an interesting medical mystery of an unfortunate human with a series of birth defects that currently the genetics of which are not obvious," Nolan wrote.
The research is featured in the documentary, "Sirius."
Dr. Steven Greer analyzes the remains in 2012.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
