The recent research, published in the journal Science, centers on Chilean mummies whose ancient DNA yielded evidence of smallpox infections dating to the early colonial period.<\/p>\n
Geneticist Shigeki Nakagome of Trinity College Dublin and his colleagues analyzed 13 bone samples previously collected from an archaeological site<\/a> at Camarones in northern Chile.<\/p>\n EXPERTS IDENTIFY VICTIMS FROM ONE OF HISTORY’S MOST ‘CATASTROPHIC’ ARCTIC DISASTERS<\/a><\/p>\n They then uncovered evidence of two smallpox infections in one man and one woman believed to have died between 1492 and 1631.<\/p>\n While historians have long known that smallpox reached the Americas following European contact, the discovery marks the first evidence of the disease in that part of South America<\/a>.<\/p>\n Smallpox devastated Native populations after Europeans arrived in the Americas, but questions remain about how the virus spread across the continents. (MPI\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n The research raises questions about how the virus traveled so far south.<\/p>\n Smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980 and no longer naturally circulates, was once one of the world’s deadliest diseases.<\/p>\n EXPERTS FINALLY SOLVE MYSTERY OF TEENAGE REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIER 246 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH<\/a><\/p>\n It killed roughly one-third of those infected.<\/p>\n Those who survived the disease were often left disfigured and scarred.<\/p>\n Smallpox, once one of the world’s deadliest diseases, killed roughly one-third of those infected and scarred many survivors. (Universal History Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Smallpox devastated Native populations after Europeans arrived in the Americas \u2014 and researchers are still unsure exactly who first brought the virus or how it spread across the continents.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/p>\n The virus may have spread through long-established Native trade networks, while researchers say it also could have passed through Africa amid the expansion of the slave trade.<\/p>\n The disease no longer naturally circulates after smallpox was eradicated in 1980 following centuries of deadly outbreaks. (Cavallini James\/BSIP\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Patricia Foster, a biologist at Indiana University who was not involved in the research, told The Associated Press (AP) that the findings provide genetic proof of something historians have long understood.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n “Nobody would ever question that smallpox came to this hemisphere from colonization, but this proves it,” said Foster.<\/p>\n Researchers are still unsure who first brought smallpox to the Americas or precisely how the virus spread across the continents. (Heritage Art\/Heritage Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n The discovery is the latest example of DNA offering new clues about diseases and deaths that have puzzled researchers for centuries.<\/p>\n TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ<\/a><\/p>\n Earlier this year, researchers recovered ancient DNA from 5,500-year-old human remains<\/a> in Colombia containing bacteria related to syphilis, pushing the known history of the disease back more than 3,000 years.<\/p>\n![\"Painting](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SMALLPOX-STUDY-AMERICAS-VIRUS-HISTORY-DISCOVERY-ARCHAEOLOGY-1.jpg\")
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