Smallpox DNA discovery : For centuries, historians have suspected that European colonists introduced smallpox to the Americas, where the disease devastated Indigenous communities. Now, scientists say ancient DNA recovered from two Chilean mummies provides the first direct molecular evidence supporting that long-held theory, as per a report.
The findings, published July 30 in Science, come from the naturally mummified remains of two people who were likely Inca and lived during the early Spanish colonial period.
