The mystery of a ‘stretched alien skull’ unearthed by workmen may now have been solved by experts.
The elongated cranium was dug up by a team installing water pipes two months ago.
The skull’s unusual shape led many to believe it was extraterrestrial.
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Some even surmised that it came from an ‘antman’, in reference to the Myrmidon warriors in Greek mythology.
But experts at the Ministry of Culture of Catamarca, Argentina, believe they have solved the mystery.
Cristian Sebastián Melián, director of the provincial government’s Anthropology Department, said it belonged to a child aged between three and four years.
He said the youngster was buried around 900 years ago.
According to Melián, the skull’s unusual shape was due to a cultural practice known as head flattening or artificial cranial deformation.
Cranial reshaping dates back thousands of years and has been found all over the world.
The historical practice involved applying pressure to an infant’s skull with splints or bandages when the bone was most pliable.
Ancient civilisations believed the modified skull shape represented superior social status or a certain spiritual belief.
The skull was found in the town of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca on 27 May, as reported by Need To Know.
Melián said it was located several feet from an unearthed burned llama skeleton and a ceramic vessel dated between 1430 and 1530 during the Inca occupation.
The child had been placed in the grave in the fetal position without any burial belongings.
But pottery fragments in the soil suggested a date of death of between 1100 and 1300.
Scientists did not detect any trauma or injury to the child’s skeleton, but noted the “pronounced cultural cranial alteration of the oblique tabular type”.
Melián said the Anthropology Department has over 100 skulls from ancient peoples, with a large number of them showing similar cranial modifications.
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