Also known as the Atacama skeleton, 6-inch Ata has been confirmed as not an alien, contrary to popular belief.
In 2003, Ata was discovered inside a leather pouch, abandoned, near a mining town in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Being only 6-inches tall and having unusual features, such as a narrowing, sloped head, angled eyes, missing ribs and super dense bones, many believed it to be out of this world – or alien.
However, a team of researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine and University of California San Diego conducted a deep genome analysis to find out what Ata really is.
First of all, Ata had no alien DNA, she is completely human.
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Instead of foreign genes, the scientists found many genetic mutations in her, some that had never been seen before.
Although small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, they were able to tell from Ata’s bones that she died when was between 6 and 8 years old.
It was found that she had 40 mutations in several genes that govern bone development, hence her alien features.
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And when it comes to her size, she was found to have osteochondrodysplasia, also known as dwarfism, resulting in people not growing to an average size.
There’s much we still don’t know about Ata, neither about our genes or how they work, but as long as we keep an open mind to things, we can figure out everything.
