Culture · 6 min read
Two Mummies Rewrite the History of Smallpox: Genetic Evidence Shedding Light on the Conquest of the Americas
Researchers have detected ancient DNA of the smallpox virus in the bones of two individuals who died in Chile between 1492 and 1631. Published in Science, the study provides the strongest genetic link to date between European strains and the epidemic that devastated indigenous populations in the Americas.