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Atacama's mummy, dubbed Ata's endearing, was discovered 15 years ago in a desolate Chilean town of the Atacama Desert.
The six-inch mummy stuns the scientific community because of its tiny proportions, its missing ribcage. and deformed skeletal features.
UFOlogists around the world immediately claimed the skeleton was extraterrestrial in origin and it figured in a high-profile documentary.
But a 2013 study by researchers at Stanford University in the United States conducted genomic tests to determine Ata was a girl who suffered from genetic abnormalities.
The results were published earlier this year in March in the scientific journal Genome Research
Atul Butte, co-author of the study, said: how many mutations this child has.
However, four months later, Stanford's study was criticized by scientists at the University of Otago, New Zealand.
An International Research Team The Professor Associate Sian Halcrow asserted this week that he has found a number of concerns regarding skeletal and genomic testing performed on Ata.
Dr. Halcrow and his team reported in the International Journal of Paleopathology that it was not possible to There was no evidence of genomic abnormalities presented by Stanford
Instead of Otago-based researchers argued that the abnormal features proposed are all part of the normal skeletal development of the fetus.
Professor Halcrow wrote: whether the ends justify the means, that is, if a study undertaken without appropriate ethical or legal considerations met substantially to an important question of anthropological, medical or genomic research.
"We showed that there is no indication that Ata had skeletal abnormalities
" Based on incorrectly perceived phenotypic abnormalities and an incorrect estimate from the age of death, Nolan and his colleagues undertook a DNA analysis in 2013 and confirmed unsurprisingly that the mummy was human. "
The expert adds the situation She said: "A nuanced understanding of skeletal biological processes and cultural context is essential for accurate scientific interpretation and for the control of ethics and legality." Kristina Killgrove, co-author of the Otago paper, said that Stanford's study may have crossed a number of nes by not involving a biological anthropologist in the study and potential illegal kidnapping of the Chilean mummy. [19659002Itisnotknownatwhatagearethemummifiedremainsswithestimatesrangingfromlessthan500yearstoonlyafewdecadesofButOtagoresearchersclaimedthatregardlessoftheageoftheskeletonthebodywasprotectedbyChileanlegislationregardingarchaeologicaldiscoveriesandNationalmonumentsof1970
The specific genome sequencing of DNA undertaken by Stanford required the destruction of In the article, the scientists concluded: "Unfortunately, there was no scientific reason to undertake genomic analyzes of Ata because the skeleton is normal, identified genetic mutations. are probably coincidental, and none of them are known to be strongly associated with skeletal dysplasias that would affect the phenotype at t
"We warn DNA researchers that they Involve in cases that lack context and legality, or whose remains were kept in private collections
"In the case of Ata, a test using whole genome techniques was useless and contrary to the ethic. "
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