6-inch human skeleton in Chile

[John_Mann]

Alien? Subhuman primate? Deformed child? Mummified fetus? The Internet is buzzing over the nature of "Ata," a bizarre 6-inch-long skeleton featured in a new documentary on UFOs. A Stanford University scientist who boldly entered the fray has now put to rest doubts about what species Ata belongs to. But the mystery is not over.

The story began 10 years ago, when the diminutive remains were reportedly found in a pouch in a ghost town in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Ata ended up in a private collection in Barcelona; producers of the film Sirius latched onto the bizarre mummy as evidence of alien life.

http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2013/05/bizarre-6-inch-skeleton-shown-be-human

BIZARRE!!!

 

[Architect]

appears to be equivalent to that of a 6- to 8-year-old child. If that holds up, there are two possibilities, Nolan says. One, a long shot, is that Ata had a severe form of dwarfism, was actually born as a tiny human, and lived until that calendar age

Seems to be the likely case. An outlier obviously, I'd guess a severe dwarf that died young due to the condition, and might have been preserved because of it which is why we have the remains. If it really was 6-8 I'd be shocked though, amazing it could live that long.

This seems more likely

"This looks to me like a badly desiccated and mummified human fetus or premature stillbirth," says William Jungers, a paleoanthropologist and anatomist at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York. He notes that "barely ossified and immature elements" of the hands and feet, and the wide open metopic suture, where the two frontal bones of the skull come together down the middle of the forehead. "Genetic anomalies are not evident, probably because there aren't any,"

 

[John_Mann]

Yeah imagine this little freak alive! If he could talk or communicate in some form he could be worshiped as a god (or feared as a devil).

But they think it lived 60 years ago. It's very strange this creature remained unnoticed when alive.

 

[UfarkTheRipe]

I bet it tastes like chicken.

 

[pjoa09]

People have put together mermaids and have tried to sell it as a story.

 

[AnnaC]

It's a fairy, and obviously it remained unnoticed because it is a magical creature.

Wait, no: The mystery of gnomes and their relation to pointy hats has finally been solved.

Oh, dear. I'm gonna stop now.