But it would be difficult, if not impossible, to decide which of Ata’s genetic defects caused her symptoms. That’s because scientists don’t have any information about Ata’s relatives. If they had DNA from Ata’s parents, for instance, they could check which of Ata’s mutations were also present in her mother and father. Any of Ata’s mutations that were also present in her parents’ DNA might be harmless, because unlike Ata, her parents lived long enough to conceive a baby.
Even though no one knows anything about her parents, Nolan thinks that someone cared for Ata when she died about 40 years ago. He points to the way she was carefully laid flat on the ground, wrapped in a leather pouch.
“They didn’t just throw it away; somebody thought it was important. It was their child,” Nolan says.
Like Jungers, Nolan now wants to see Ata returned to Chile and laid to rest once again.
“I don’t think that people should be trafficking in human bodies and claiming they’re aliens for the sake of monetary advantage,” Nolan says.
Erika Check Hayden is the director of theScience Communication Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Follow her on Twitter.