Smallpox DNA found in two 400-600-year-old mummies in Chile

Scientists have found the smallpox DNA in two natural mummies who lived in a small settlement in Chile sometime between 1492 and 1631. One was a 30- to 35-year-old woman, and the other was an 18- to 20-year-old man. The study of the mummies confirmed that the virus that caused smallpox arrived in the American continents from Europe.