Archaeologists sometimes find very strange ancient mummies, which are highly doubtful belonging to Homo sapiens; The main hypotheses explaining their origin are simple - these are aliens or freaks
In October 1932, two gold diggers, Frank Carr and Cecil Maine, were wandering in the San Pedro Mountains in the North American state of Wyoming. A hundred kilometers from the city of Kasper, they were looking for gold deposits rich enough for industrial development. They were unlucky: golden sand came across in many places, but everywhere there were only pitiful crumbs. One morning, it seemed to the gold diggers that capricious fortune had finally turned to face them. In a deep gorge, they noticed a characteristic shine from afar. "Lived!" - both cried with joyful hope and began to graze. It was necessary to make sure that they really attacked the gold mine. For this, Maine and Carr laid dynamite and blew up the rock.
As the smoke and dust from the explosion cleared away, the grimy gold prospectors made out fragments of rocks. And again a bitter disappointment - there was no gold at all! But they discovered something else, much more amazing than a rich gold mine. The force of the explosion broke off a large stone block from the rock, and in its place the entrance to a natural cave 4.5 m deep and only 1.2 m high was opened. Curiosity and the hope of finding gold there drove the desperate guys inside the cave.
They crept into a narrow hole and carefully examined the stone walls. The rocks turned out to be completely empty - there was no gold there. But in the grotto, their attention was attracted by a small figure: A mysterious unearthly creature perched on a flat slab, arms and legs crossed. The figurine resembled the hero of fairy tales - an evil dwarf. The ugly "dwarf" did not move and, obviously, died long ago, and his body was dry.
The prospectors examined the figurine and realized that they were lucky: an extraordinary dried-up freak can be sold at a profit! The seated figurine was only 18 cm high, which means that in full growth the "dwarf" was no higher than 35 cm. In general terms, he resembled a man of advanced age, but it was a very distant resemblance. It is generally very difficult to judge the age of a deceased person by the face of a mummy. The tiny "old man" had a disproportionately low forehead, incredibly huge, like headlights, eyes and a wide flat nose.
The brown leather of a bronze hue gave the impression of worn out, old. A small, fist-like face crossed a huge mouth with thin lips. The crown of this pathetic creature was unnaturally flat, as if flattened, and covered not with hair, but with some kind of thick mass. The little hands, too large for such a "crumb", were preserved quite well, one could even make out long fingers with tiny marigolds. The "dwarf" found by Maine and Carr did not resemble any known creature that ever lived on Earth. The gold diggers packed their booty and brought Casper to the city. The "dwarf freak" made a real sensation there.
The discoverers christened their find "Pedro" - after the San Pedro mountains, where they found the mummy. Local car dealer Ivan Goodman bought the curiosity.
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Goodman went with his unusual purchase to the anthropologist Dr. Henry Shapiro, a staff member of the US Natural History Museum. Dr. Shapiro was interested in the mysterious mummy, and he offered to study it using X-rays. What if it's fake? And the X-ray machine cannot be fooled!
Thus, "baby Pedro" was X-rayed. The images immediately dismissed all suspicions of falsification and showed that the mummy had human internal organs and a human skeleton. The X-ray also showed a fracture on the right scapula and a spinal injury, all ribs were clearly distinguished. In addition, a detailed study of the skull revealed that the head of the "dwarf" was broken and flattened, and the frozen mass that covered the skull was brain and blood. Anthropologists have come up with surprising results when trying to determine the age of the "dwarf Pedro." The little "man" had 32 teeth, the fontanelle on the skull is completely closed. Dr. Shapiro concluded that death overtook the unfortunate "Pedro" at the age of 65. As for the age of the mummy, scientists have not been able to figure out anything definite. The mummy was very ancient, and the exact methods that researchers now use to determine the age of archaeological finds did not yet exist.
In 1950, Ivan Goodman died and the dwarf mummy went to his heirs. At first it was owned by a certain Leonard Wadler, but then the trail of the unique find was lost, and now its whereabouts are unknown.
Professor George Gill, an anthropologist at the University of Wyoming, in 1979 received X-rays of the dwarf mummy - the same missing "Pedro". According to Professor Gill, it may have been a small child with a congenital malformation. The extraordinary child belonged to the primitive ancestors of the Indian race.
Professor George 1ill is sure that the mummy did not belong to an adult, but to a small child with anencephaly. However, against his hypothesis about a child with a congenital disease, the fact that "Pedro" had a mouthful of good teeth, and the structure of the skull also corresponds to an adult, speaks against his hypothesis.
Another hypothesis was put forward in 1993 by a zoologist from France, Dr. François de Sarre. He suggests that this is a malformed fruit, which the Jivaro Indians covered with skin torn from an adult. All the signs of microcephaly are evident. In this disease, the skull and brain develop abnormally and acquire an irregular shape and size.
However, the Indians of North America have their own opinion about the origin of "Pedro". Many Native American legends tell of little people who lived on the continent in antiquity and, perhaps, secretly exist somewhere to this day. The Shoshone Indians believe that these "dwarfs" are bad neighbors, evil and insidious, shooting poisoned arrows at people.
Unfortunately, not much more is known about "Little Pedro" than about the other miniature mummies mentioned: the "dwarf" has disappeared. Even if the mummy exists, its whereabouts are unknown, and it is inaccessible to the entire scientific world. It remains to be hoped that one day the mysterious "Pedro" will appear again, and scientists will come to grips with his research. The possibilities of modern science will help to solve the riddle of miniature mummies.