Researchers studying mummified remains in Chile have found genetic evidence that strengthens a long-held historical conclusion: smallpox was brought to the Americas by Europeans during colonization. While historians have long tied the disease to the arrival of Europeans, the new finding adds direct biological proof to that account.
The discovery matters because smallpox played a devastating role in the collapse of Indigenous populations across the hemisphere. Written records and historical analysis have pointed in that direction for years, but ancient genetic material from preserved remains offers a more concrete way to trace where the virus came from and how it spread.
According to the report, the evidence from the Chilean mummies does more than support existing theories. It also shows how advances in genetic analysis can confirm major events in the history of disease, even centuries later, using material preserved in human remains.
The research adds to a growing body of work that uses ancient DNA to revisit the history of epidemics in the Americas. In this case, the findings help connect colonial contact, viral transmission, and the catastrophic impact smallpox had on Indigenous communities with a level of precision that historical records alone could not provide.
