Genetic material from smallpox viruses found in the mummified remains of two people in modern-day Chile has provided evidence about the disease’s arrival in the Americas, according to Nature Archaeology. The individuals died more than 400 years ago while infected with the virus.
Researchers analyzed viral DNA preserved in the remains. The resulting genomic evidence points to Europeans as the source of smallpox’s arrival in the Americas, although the report describes the finding specifically as evidence of when the disease reached the region rather than as a reconstruction of every stage of its spread.
The mummies therefore preserve both human remains and genetic traces of an infection that affected people living in Chile centuries ago. The study’s significance lies in using viral genomes from archaeological remains to investigate the timing of smallpox’s appearance in the Americas.
The source identifies the work as the first genomic evidence addressing how smallpox reached the Americas. It does not provide further details about the individuals, the precise location of their deaths, the methods used to recover or date the viral DNA, or the specific European source implicated by the analysis.
