Ancient DNA recovered from a mummy in Chile is providing some of the clearest genetic evidence so far that smallpox was introduced to the Americas during European colonization. The finding adds scientific support to a long-held historical view about how the disease reached the region.
Researchers say the DNA evidence helps connect the virus to the post-contact period rather than to an earlier presence in the Americas. That matters because smallpox became one of the most destructive diseases to spread after Europeans arrived.
The disease is widely associated with catastrophic population loss among Indigenous peoples, who faced repeated outbreaks after contact. This new evidence strengthens the case that colonization played a direct role in bringing the virus across the Atlantic.
While historians have long argued that Europeans introduced smallpox, ancient genetic material offers a more direct way to test that idea. The Chile mummy evidence gives scientists a stronger biological record for tracing how the disease entered and spread through the Americas.
