The Atacama desert in Chile is home to the newest and largest space observatory installation on Earth. But it is also home to mummies, and one of them is giving scientists a run for their money.
Although the small skeleton is apparently in all genetic sense, a human, its features and length are making it a head scratcher.
Apparently the small mummy is a child of between 6-8 who has shriveled during the mummification process. But even so, and even after thorough testing of the DNA evidence, the tiny size and features of the mummy are posing a logical challenge for scientists.
What was it then that made this child so small, and why does it have such alien like features?
Researchers believe that child was affected by some genetic malformation, although that does not account for the tiny size.
Visually however, the skeleton does not say 'human'. And the mutation that might have accounted for such evident malformation of a human is unknown.
Although scientists have never suggested it to be otherworldly, it does pose some daunting questions.
Some of the defects in the skull are recognizable, such as turrichepaly, an abnormal elongation of the skull.
However, 9% of the sequencing did not match anything human, although that could be attributable to DNA degradation.
The rest of the DNA also confirms that the skeleton belongs to an Indigenous child from that area.
But still, some of the genetic mutations that would explain such extreme dwarfism were not found during examination. And there is no known dwarfism that accounts for all the deformities seen in the skeleton.
More on the subject can be seen in the documentary "sirius".
Source : MSNBC 5.1.13
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