The deadliest killer in the Americas was not wielding a sword, it was a virus: DNA from two Inca mummies has just confirmed its origin

Ancient DNA from 500-year-old mummies found in Camarones, northern Chile, identified the Variola virus.

Genetic analysis places the strain in an intermediate lineage between older European and later strains.

The study supports the view that smallpox was not native to the Americas and arrived from the Old World after 1492.

That finding strengthens the historical case that imported epidemics helped drive Indigenous population collapse after European contact.