Strange Little Skeleton...!

Sometimes the folks that dig up old bones and temples and such come across something that really is baffling to them all.

The way I see it is if the so-called experts can't explain it, then it falls into the category of strange!

Atacama ‘Alien’ Skeleton

Photo credit: Sirius (YouTube) via NBC News

When a strange, 15-centimeter (6 in) skeleton in Chile’s Atacama Desert was unearthed in 2003, conspiracy theorists insisted that the bones were those of an extraterrestrial. The elongated skull and the number of ribs (10 rather than 12) weren’t anything like those of a human being. Others held the opinion it was the skeleton of an aborted fetus or a primate. However, scientists confirmed the skeleton to be human.

The elongated head could have resulted from deliberate skull deformation, widely practiced 1,000 years ago in Central America. No one is sure how old the skeleton is, however, although researchers believe that death occurred “at least a few decades ago.” Another possibility concerning the deformed skull is turricephaly, or high-head syndrome, a birth defect that leaves the top of the skull cone-shaped.

Then there’s the skeleton’s stature. Its DNA indicates a child between six and eight years old, but it’s only 15 centimeters long. How could a child of such an age have been so tiny? Dwarfism doesn’t seem to account for the discrepancy between its age and size.

Also odd is the fact that nine percent of the skeleton’s genes don’t fit into the human genome. This could be due to degradation of the DNA, distortion of results by lab preparation, or insufficient data, though. Nevertheless, enough unanswered questions remain to make this bizarre skeleton a true enigma.

These bones just prove that science can't answer all the questions. Maybe this is one of those cases where we don't really need to know.

Coffee out on the patio this morning!