It seems that it’s time to put an end to the epic of the Kyshtym dwarf, as the humanoid Alyoshenka is also called. His mummified remains, found in 1996 in the Chelyabinsk region, disappeared without ever falling into the hands of professional scientists.
This gave rise to supporters of conspiracy theories to claim that Alyoshenka is none other than a representative of an extraterrestrial civilization.
Alyoshenka can no longer be returned or examined, but his “sister” Ata fell into the hands of scientists. A bundle with an egg-headed female mummy 15 centimeters high - a complete copy of Alyoshenka - was discovered by curiosities collector Oscar Muñoz in 2003 in the abandoned Chilean town of La Noria.
This place is located in the Atacama Desert, hence the mummy's nickname - Ata. Since then, scientists have been carefully studying the find. Using X-rays, researchers found that despite its tiny size, Ata's skeleton has many anomalies. For example, the mummy had only 10 pairs of ribs, and not 12, as usual. And the tissue density corresponded to the level of development of a child aged 6-8 years. At the same time, it was established that Ata’s mother is a native of the West Coast of South America, and the girl herself was born only a few decades ago.
However, all the i's were dotted by a comprehensive study by an international team of scientists led by a professor of immunology and microbiology Medical school Stanford University Harry Nolan.
The researchers conducted full analysis Ata's genome and clearly established: we are dealing with human child who was premature or died immediately after birth. Unusual appearance is explained by a series of genetic mutations associated with dwarfism and other abnormalities of the skeleton and skull. Some of these mutations are well known to scientists, while others are encountered for the first time.
“The girl was so sick that she couldn’t eat normally,” says Harry Nolan. “She could have survived only if, immediately after birth, she had been taken to the intensive care unit of the neonatal department, where children with severe pathologies are cared for. But given the place where Ata was found, she didn't stand a chance.
According to Nolan, the skeletal deformities could be a consequence of DNA damage caused by exposure to nitrates. The Atacama Desert is home to the world's largest deposit of sodium nitrate. Before the First World War, Chile was one of the world's leading exporters of saltpeter, it was used as a fertilizer in agriculture. Proceeds from the sale accounted for 2/3 of the country's budget. Just near the site where Ata was discovered there are abandoned mines for the extraction of sodium nitrate. They were closed after a method for producing synthetic nitrates was invented.
Mysterious mummy of the humanoid Atacama November 10th, 2018
Usually all these stories about mummies of aliens and unprecedented creatures end with one thing - falsification, manipulation and dummy.
But everything is different here...
In October 2003, an artifact collector Indian history named Oscar Muñoz (Spanish: Oscar Muñoz) explored the abandoned Chilean town La Noria, which is located approximately 56 km from the town of Iquique in the Atacama Desert (desierto de Atacama). He discovered a bundle with a small humanoid mummy. Its length was about 15 centimeters and externally was in good condition. There were even hard teeth.
He was even called "an alien from the desert."
Two unusual features caught my eye. Firstly, these are only nine pairs of ribs, as opposed to the usual twelve for a person. Secondly, and more noteworthy, is the greatly elongated skull of the mummy. The egg-headedness gave it a resemblance to the classic movie alien. For this reason, the find was called the Atacama Humanoid.
This creature is 15 centimeters tall, its head is proportional to its body. big sizes, and this creature has 2 fewer ribs than a human. This humanoid was nicknamed in honor of the place of discovery - “Atacama Humanoid”. This discovery gave ufologists greater confidence in the existence of alien intelligence.
After the grand discovery, rumors about the appearance of alien intelligence on Earth quickly dissipated. But 10 years later, a large film screening “Sirius” was released, in which scientists share their views on the existence of aliens and provide reliable information from specialists who have studied the body of a humanoid.
But despite everything, skeptics claim that this is a dummy and all this is a manipulation of facts, although tomography has shown that this is real body real being. Opinions among researchers also differed, but that perhaps the body belonged to a small monkey or the body of a human fetus in late pregnancy.
However, studies carried out using modern equipment - x-rays, tomography, DNA analysis - reveal the most interesting information about the humanoid from Atacama:
First of all, it can't be a monkey. “I can say with 100% certainty that the find is not a monkey skeleton. This is something closer to humans than to chimpanzees,” said Harry Nolan, the professor who conducted the genetic analysis.
Secondly, “the skeleton is not an aborted human fetus, this is excluded,” the specialist said.
A detailed study of the Atacama humanoid at Stanford University in California took about six months. The results were announced at a special press conference by the head of the research team, Harry Nolan.
DNA analysis taken from the bone marrow of the ribs showed that the mummy is a rare mutation of a female human. Moreover, her mother was most definitely from west coast South America, that is, apparently, Chilean.
Research has revealed a previously unknown anomaly of skeletal development. A study of X-rays and tomography results showed that the density of the epiphasic plates of the knees (cartilaginous growth plates in children at the ends of long bones) corresponds to those of a child of approximately seven years of age.
The age of the find was also objectively assessed. It turned out that the mummy was relatively young. She is only more than four decades old, although initially an age comparable to a millennium was not ruled out. The reason is that the Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on earth, conducive to the incorruption of organic matter.
In 2018, Harry Nolan's research team published in the journal Genome Research scientific article about the results of DNA research on the mummy. Scientists have determined that this is “a girl child who was either not full-term, or was born noticeably late and died almost immediately after birth.” The unusual appearance is caused by negative mutations in about 60 genes, leading to scoliosis, premature aging, disorders in the synthesis of collagen and bone tissue, an abnormal number of ribs, etc. Sian Halcrow from the University of Otago ( New Zealand) and her colleagues from universities in the USA, Sweden and Chile questioned the conclusions of researchers from Stanford University, since they did not find any signs of skeletal abnormalities of the fetus in the Atacama mummy
“Understanding the mutations that have been discovered that cause bone aging, as in the case of Ata, may allow us to develop drugs that can help the development and repair of bones in people who have been victims of accidents, car crashes or other tragedies...
Although the whole story began and spread around the world as an alien story, it is really nothing more than the tragedy of a woman who gave birth to a premature baby that was sold as a bizarre artifact.
The Atacama humanoid is an incredible genetic case from which we must learn the most important things and help all of humanity in the fight against this problem. Rest in peace “Ata”!” - excerpt from an interview with Professor Nolan for The Guardian.
sources
The remains of the mysterious creature were discovered in 2003 by the collector of artifacts of Indian history, Oscar Muñoz. While exploring the abandoned village of La Noria in the Atacama Desert, he found a bundle with a 15-centimeter humanoid mummy.
In addition to its tiny height, the mummy was striking in two other features: it had nine pairs of ribs (a human has twelve pairs) and a greatly elongated skull. It resembled images of extraterrestrial aliens from science fiction films and was called the “humanoid from the Atacama.”
- Atacama Desert
- Reuters
The find was resold several times until it ended up in the private collection of a Spanish businessman. Since then, the strange creature has remained the subject of much speculation. American ufologist Stephen Greer said that a mummy with such severe deviations in skeletal development cannot belong to a person. In 2013, he released the film “Sirius”, dedicated to his guesses regarding the alien origin of Ata.
At the same time, scientists from Stanford University School of Medicine, led by microbiologist and immunologist Harry Nolan, began studying the humanoid from the Atacama. In 2013, they presented the results of their work, according to which the mummy belongs to a seven-year-old boy who suffered from a severe and unknown type of dwarfism. According to another version, the child was sick with progeria - abnormally rapid aging - and died shortly after birth.
New data about an old find
Without reaching a final conclusion, scientists continued their research over the next five years. Having completely deciphered Ata’s genome, experts identified mutations in several genes responsible for abnormal skeletal development.
“It seems to me that when doctors run DNA tests on their patients, they often look for one specific cause, a very rare or unusual mutation that may explain the disease. But in in this case“We are confident that mutations occurred in several genes at once, which led to numerous developmental abnormalities,” said study author Harry Nolan.
- Pixabay
As a result of research, Nolan and his colleague, radiologist and pediatrician Ralph Lachman from Stanford University, came to the final conclusion: the skeleton belongs to a Chilean baby girl who suffered from serious genetic mutations. Thus, the structure of Ata’s bones is typical for a 6-year-old child, which indicates a rare disease of the bone structure.
“A similar story happened with the Kyshtym dwarf. Much has been made up about its origin. “Our institute examined samples of the fabric in which it was wrapped and isolated DNA ordinary person, only with many pathologies in development,” the head of the Institute’s laboratory commented on the discovery of American colleagues general genetics them. N.I. Vavilov RAS Sergey Kiselev.
Help people
Having decided on Ata's origins, Nolan continued his research. He extracted a small sample of DNA from the red bone marrow of Ata's ribs and deciphered it complete genome. The scientist was able to objectively estimate the age of the find - it appeared more than 40 years ago. He also found out that the DNA of a person and Ata do not match by 8%. However, the reason for this lies not in the alien origin of the mummy, but in numerous mutations of seven genes that led to dwarfism, as well as various deformations bones and skull. Some of these mutations were found in genes that were not previously thought to be responsible for bone growth or developmental disorders.
“The so-called Atacama humanoid is no longer a mystery. The information we obtained during the study about previously unknown mutations is very valuable because it will help identify similar types of bone or physical disorders. We will probably be able to treat many of these diseases in the future with gene therapy,” Nolan concluded.
According to Kiselyov, the mechanisms of some rare diseases are not always clear, and therefore doctors do not know how to cope with them. Today, gene therapy is beginning to be used to treat complex genetic diseases, and this is bearing fruit, the expert noted.
“You can introduce the necessary genes into a cell and in this way change its further “life.” More often, geneticists bring it to an embryonic state, in which it can differentiate into various and necessary for a person cell types. This method is used to treat patients born with hereditary diseases. So far it's clinical researches— for example, gene therapy was recently tested on people suffering from hemophilia. And the experiment was successful,” Kiselyov noted.
However, according to the expert, in the future gene therapy will find wide application in medicine and will be used to treat various diseases.
And they found that these were the remains of a baby with numerous genetic disorders, it is reported in Genome Research. After the discovery of a tiny mummy with a conical head at the beginning of the century, many theories were expressed about its origin - that it was the remains of a deformed human fetus, a great ape, and even an alien.
The mummy of a strange creature was found in 2003 in the Atacama Desert, in the abandoned Chilean city of La Noria, which was founded next to largest deposits sodium nitrate shortly before the First World War. The length of the found skeleton was about 15 centimeters, it had ten pairs of ribs instead of the usual human 12 pairs and a severely deformed elongated skull. There have been different versions about the origin of the Atacama mummy, which was nicknamed “Ata”. For example, the creators of the film “Sirius” were confident of the unearthly origin of the remains.
The Chilean collector of Indian artifacts who found the mummy sold it soon after the discovery, then the remains were resold again and eventually ended up in the collection of Spanish businessman Ramón Navia-Osorio. Several years ago, the owner allowed American ufologist Steven Greer, one of the creators of the film “Sirius,” to analyze the mummy using computed tomography and x-rays, and Stanford University geneticist Garry Nolan to take bone marrow samples for DNA analysis . The scan showed that, judging by the development of the bones, the mummy belonged to a 6-8 year old child. And the partially sequenced genome showed that the mummy was definitely human, and the remains were no older than several decades. For comparison, the researchers used the genomes of other humans and primates, including chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys. Moreover, the mummy had mitochondrial haplogroup B2. This meant that the child's mother was of South American origin.
In a new study, American geneticists led by Nolan sequenced the entire genome of “Ata,” hoping to find possible mutations that influenced the child’s abnormal development. The researchers also wanted to more accurately determine the origin and gender of the mummy.
It turned out that the child most likely came from Chile. He was genetically similar to Europeans, inhabitants East Asia and natives of the Andes. This combination, judging by previous studies, is typical for the inhabitants of Chile. The authors of the article discovered two X chromosomes in the mummy's genome, meaning the child was a girl. In addition, scientists found 64 mutations (including previously unknown ones) in seven genes that are associated with normal development of the skeleton and connective tissues. With mutations in these genes, a person can develop, among other things, abnormal development of ribs, congenital lethal dwarfism, malformations of the skull bones, osteochondrodysplasia (improper development of cartilage and bone tissue) and osteogenesis imperfecta (increased fragility of bones).
The researchers note that given the size of the mummy and the severity of the detected disorders, most likely the child was born prematurely, possibly already dead, or died shortly after birth, and the abnormally “mature” bones for a baby, by which the authors of the article identified the child at 6-8 years old, were also the result of mutations. Although the authors of the paper can only speculate about the reasons for so many mutations, they suggest that nitrates, which have been shown to seriously damage DNA, are to blame. Considering that “Atu” was found in an abandoned “nitrate” city, this reason seems quite likely.
Two years ago, near the Philippines, on a drifting yacht, the mummy of the ship's captain was found. What was unusual was not only the location of the find, but also the fact that the body was mummified in just a week. An autopsy found that the man died of a heart attack a week before he was discovered.
In the original version of the note, a factual error was made: in the description of the mummy, instead of 10 pairs of ribs, five pairs were indicated. The editors apologize to the readers.
Ekaterina RusakovaWhat is this - a skillful fake, a genetic deviation or the mummy of a real alien?
We'll try to sort this out.
In 2003, a very unusual mummy. She was found by a “black digger” and sold to a local restaurateur for 3,000 pesos (about $50). According to him, the mummy was wrapped in white cloth and tied with a purple ribbon.
On October 9, 2003, photographs of the find first appeared in the press. The restaurateur received more than $1,000 for the first two photos alone. The amount for which he parted with the mummy was not disclosed, but offers reached up to 120 thousand dollars.
At first glance, the mummy seemed very ancient, despite its very good state of preservation. Scientists' first assumption that this was a human embryo with genetic abnormalities was immediately questioned. Despite small size(6 inches - about 15 cm) the creature had a fully formed bone skeleton, corresponding to the age of 6-8 years for a human child. The cone-shaped head and the semblance of a bony ridge on the head gave it an alien appearance. In addition, the mummy had only 10 ribs, and not the usual 12 in humans!
A certain similarity with “Alyoshenka” from Kyshtym immediately catches the eye ( Chelyabinsk region), found in 1996. “Kyshtym Dwarf” is also a mummy of a certain creature with an unusual appearance, unfortunately, now lost. “Alyoshenka” never reached scientists; all that remained were not very clear photographs and unprofessional video recording of the object.
There was no doubt about the reality of the find, but what it was remained unclear.
With the discovery from Atacama, ufologists perked up - the “Kyshtym alien” is not alone!
"Kyshtym dwarf", aka "Alyoshenka"
The first thing scientists said was that the Atacama find is a real mummy, not a fake. And she is only 40 years old, no more, that is, she is practically modern.
After publication in 2013 (a study of mummy DNA) in the journal Science, it became clear that the “alien from the Atacama” was still human, albeit with significant genetic abnormalities.
However, that publication did not answer many questions. Now it’s time to answer them more fully - another article about mummy DNA research was published in the journal Genome Research in March 2018.
comparison of the skeletons of a newborn and the Atacama mummy (right)
Now Nolan and his colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco, have published an analysis of the entire alien genome. From DNA extracted from the mummy's bones, they discovered that the mummy was a girl who had suffered mutations in at least seven genes known to cause or accelerate the development of serious skeletal malformations.
One of the diagnoses is congenital dwarfism (dwarfism).
Taken together these genetic mutations explain Ata's size, abnormal ribs and skull shape, and apparently overdeveloped bones for her age. In addition, the child had a congenital hernia of the diaphragm.
Further analysis showed that her DNA was most similar to that of other Chileans in the area.
Researchers believe the girl was most likely stillborn or died immediately after birth, approximately 40 years before her remains were discovered.
She had a chance to survive in a modern neonatal center, but not on the edge of the desert in a poor working-class village near the mine. However, the child was buried in or near the cemetery, where the “black digger” dug him up.
I hope that after all her adventures, the “alien” girl will still find herself eternal shelter, where no one will ever disturb her again, as her mother once wanted.
And it's time for you and me to say goodbye to a tiny unborn Chilean girl and say goodbye to fantasies about alien mummies.