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Mummy with an elongated head and has 3 fingers. PHOTO/ DAILY
LIMA – A mummified figure found in a Peruvian cemetery last year with an elongated head and only three fingers piqued the curiosity of Russian scientists.
In the mummy’s hands, each hand actually has a different anatomy from humans. This conclusion was claimed by Russian scientists.
A team of researchers from St Petersburg have released the results of their preliminary analysis of a human-like figure found near Nazca, in southern Peru, and dating to around the 5th century.
Professor Konstantin Korotkov of the Russian National Research University claims the mummy – which appears to be an adult woman and was given the name Maria – has the same number of chromosomes as humans, but has a different anatomy.
Besides Maria, scientists are also studying another mummy called Vavita. This figure is believed to have died when he was nine months old, and four male mummies with a stature of 70 cm larger.
“Right now we are making a detailed analysis to assess whether the structure of all the chromosomes, all the amino acids, coincides with ours,” he told Russian news agency Sputnik.
“Each of the little mummies had two arms, two legs, a head, a pair of eyes and a mouth. Tomography scans reveal their skeletons. The tissues have biological properties and their chemical composition indicates that they are human,” he said.
“Their DNA features 23 pairs of chromosomes, just like ours. All four are male, each with a Y chromosome. They look human but their anatomical structure is different,” he was quoted as saying by 9news.
Scientists claim that the mummy’s bone structure is unusually shaped with several semicircular bones. This mummy only had three fingers per hand and an elongated head at the back.
