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Chile mummy ancient DNA shows smallpox arrived after colonization
Fox News • • health
Key Points:
- DNA analysis of Chilean mummies dating from 1492 to 1631 has provided the first genetic evidence of smallpox infections in South America, supporting the theory that the disease arrived after European colonization.
- Researchers studied 13 bone samples from an archaeological site in northern Chile, identifying smallpox in one man and one woman, raising questions about how the virus spread so far south.
- Smallpox, eradicated in 1980, was a deadly disease that devastated Native American populations, but the exact origins and pathways of its spread in the Americas remain unclear.
- The virus may have propagated through Native trade networks or via the African slave trade, with genetic findings confirming long-held historical beliefs about its introduction during colonization.
- This discovery adds to growing evidence from ancient DNA studies that shed light on historical diseases and mysterious deaths, enhancing understanding of past pandemics and their impacts.
