The Mystery of the Atacama Humanoid

In 2003 in a remote deserted Chilean town in the Atacama desert, the remains of a 15 cm (6 inch) long humanoid was discovered. Known today as the Atacama Humanoid or Ata, the anomalous skeleton has been subjected to serious scientific testing to determine the origins of this most peculiar creature which has a cranium three times the dimensions of ordinary humans.

It has long been claimed as a hoax but the scientists analysing Ata have proved beyond doubt that this is no fake, created by human hands.

Dr Steven Greer, who led the project and documentary, has hit back at critics who claim the body is a hoax. "The CAT scan clearly shows internal chest organs -lungs and what appears to be the remains of a heart structure," he said.

"There is absolutely no doubt that the specimen is an actual organism and that it is not a hoax of any kind. This fact has been confirmed by Dr. Nolan and Dr. Lachman at Stanford."

Dr. Nolan said "it is quite clear that this is a real sample, this is a real specimen, this is not something somebody glued together".

judging by the growth plates of the knee joints, this is a child between 6 to 8 years old, thus proving it is not foetal. Many people have suggested that it is simply an aborted fetus but the x-rays prove such theories to be obsolete.

Ata is the first human being in history to have only 10 ribs instead of 12 and the DNA analysis showed that it has 91% human DNA, with the other 9% of the genetic material registered as "unmatching", a real anomaly which has confounded the world's best scientists on bone dysplasias at Stanford.

The media has picked up on the fact that the majority of DNA is human therefore a line has been drawn under this mystery as it has now been declared human, but Dr. Greer says the mystery has just begun, "it could be years before we get an answer on this".

After all, a chimpanzee has a 97% DNA match with humans, whilst gorillas have 95% and even banana trees share a 55% DNA match with us! It is clear that what is of the utmost importance here is the 9% which has no match whatsoever as it doesn't match with any primate or ancient hominid or anything known therefore it remains unknown.

Greer said that "we have to be careful proclaiming it one thing or another as we still don't know", despite the medias claim that the mystery has been solved...it is just human and there is no mystery here.

Dr Nolan said "if we find another one then all bets are off" and it seems that that there already exists more than one.

There are also reports that there are more like this - in Chile and Puerto Rico. Another has already been found in the late 90's in Russia, which was believed to be more mature than the Atacama humanoid despite being of a similar height and ratio. I have seen video of this specimen but more information has been difficult to find.

Interestingly, in 1933 Robert Ripley of "Believe It or Not" fame, found a 6 1/2 inch tall Mummy from Peru. They called it the 'Atta Boy' mummy which looks very similar to the Atacama Humanoid that was found in 2003 in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Due to the mummified state of the specimen is is believed that it could be thousands of years old.

The similarities between the two are striking and raise many questions as to the origins of these bizarre and tiny creatures, out in the deserted landscape of Atacama, the driest place on Earth.

Could these incredible discoveries eventually lead to the discovery of another race of humanoids from our distant past? Just as Giants have occupied our imaginations since time immemorial, what could these miniature human figures tell us about our forgotten past?

Only time and more thorough scientific research will reveal the answers to these incredible mysteries. Could they have extraterrestrial connections or are the answers going to be as baffling as the specimens themselves?

Watch this space...