Featured Image Credit: @joismantilla/Tridactyls.org
A team of scientists investigating one of Peru’s infamous ‘alien’ mummies claim to have made a remarkable breakthrough, discovering what appears to be a fetus inside the womb of a 1,200-year-old corpse.
The so-called tridactyl mummies, first unearthed in the Nazca desert back in 2017, have sparked years of global fascination and scepticism. With their three-fingered hands, elongated skulls, and metal implants, they’ve long fuelled theories ranging from extraterrestrial origin to elaborate hoax.
Now, new scans have revealed what some believe is the strongest piece of evidence yet supporting the mummies' biological authenticity.
While analysing one of the mummified specimens, named Montserrat, scientists discovered what they describe as a fetus inside her womb. CT imaging showed a tiny body lying on its back with its head facing downwards and arms near the pelvic region, the classic foetal position.
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Lead researcher Dr David Ruiz Vela, alongside journalist Jois Mantilla, carried out the scans at a radiology centre in Lima. According to their analysis, Montserrat was less than 30 weeks pregnant when she died, over a millennium ago.
The gestational age of the fetus was determined by the length of its femur, 43 millimetres, a common technique used in prenatal ultrasounds. Researchers noted that the bones were still soft and had not yet fully fused, a fact that likely contributed to visible distortions seen in the scan.
Mantilla said he first became suspicious when he noticed the placement of Montserrat’s hands during inspection.
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He told the Daily Mail: “I observed the position of the hands, as if she had wanted to protect her gestating belly. One hand above and one below”.
He added: “The abdomen dried out, lost hydration, and became almost flat, but the hands remained in that position.”
Digital reconstruction showed that the fetus’s face had rotated backwards, likely due to the mummification process and the soft, undeveloped state of its skull.
Researchers believe Montserrat stood around five feet three inches tall and was between 16 and 25 years old at the time of her death. She had a series of metallic implants in her hands, chest and head. One such object appeared to have been embedded in her skull while she was still alive, as skin was seen growing around the device.
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These so-called biofunctional implants were found to contain highly pure silver, as well as cadmium, osmium, copper, aluminium, and gold — elements currently used in aerospace technology.
Dr Jose Zalce, another expert involved in the investigation, said: “Notably, the silver is over 95 per cent pure, a rarity in nature. Cadmium and osmium, both relatively modern discoveries, are materials currently used in satellite communications and aerospace structures”.
Sceptics, however, remain unconvinced. Forensic archaeologist Flavio Estrada has dismissed the mummies as man-made fabrications assembled from animal bones and modern glue.
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In January 2024, he said: “The conclusion is simple: they are dolls assembled with bones of animals from this planet, with modern synthetic glues, therefore, they were not assembled during pre-Hispanic times”.
“They are not extraterrestrials; they are not aliens.”
Even so, debate continues to rage over their origins, with the new fetal discovery sure to reignite the mystery all over again.