UPDATE: As I said originally, with a number of very ignorant people insulting me for it, the mummy has been deemed to be a hoax by experts who say that it is clear real mummies are being manipulated to look strange and exotic by adding extra bones. See the addition below the original story.

You know, our catchphrase used to be “people really believe this stuff” and I’m always amazed at how many times one individual can be caught promoting outrageous hoaxes and still keep on doing it with many falling his absurd claims over and over again. They so wish to believe that there was alien (non-human) influence in Latin American history. It’s just bizarre. The latest is an incredibly fake-looking “alien mummy” said to have been found in Peru.

The find was announced by Gaia.com who promote alternative history and metaphysics who describe themselves as “a community of seekers, empowering one another on the path to a conscious life. Together, we can awaken the evolution of consciousness.”

The “mummy” has the proportions of a human – two arms, two legs – with various strange features including an elongated head with three-fingers on both hands and feet. The body is covered in a white “dust” that the investigators say dried the body but to the more down-to-earth observers, looks like plaster. Gaia released a video featuring “scientists” examining the body with a camera crew. This is the only documentation of the body. The crew includes infamous UFO promoter Jaime Maussan who, without confirmation of this being real or not (and, let’s face it, he is SO EASILY duped), called it “one of the most important discoveries of the 21st century.” Maussan, who is labeled as a “well-respected” journalist has lost all his credibility over his years of promoting ridiculous hoaxes as genuine.

Red flags for this discovery include:

Maussan being involved

The obvious plaster appearance of the mummy

The reveal by Special Report “Unearthing Nazca” by Gaia with no sign of reputable scientific expertise

A closed team of researchers with alternative views that go against the scientific mainstream

No scientific results confirmed or retested because it has not been made available to anyone else

No documentation of location, context, or discovery

Promotion of it being a fantastic discovery that will “change everything”

Not published in a scientific publication

The specimen is said to have been tested to reveal an age of 245-410 AD, not an unreasonable age for an actual mummy. The method of testing is not made available. The specimens are not available for examination. There is no expert in preserved Peruvian mummies on the research team. The three-fingered hand configuration is nowhere to be found in nature but we have seen it on another Peruvian hoaxed item that follows the same non-documented path to promotion. Remember the “alien claw”? It has a similar plaster-like coating. The researchers also link the three fingers to petroglyphs that show three-fingered humanoids. I suspect that this is a stylistic feature and am waiting for actual experts to weigh in (if they even care to comment on such a sloppy, pathetic sensational display).

There have been other hoaxed “mummies” and preserved aliens or creatures revealed as faked. It is easily conceivable that this is a carefully (or not so carefully) crafted, even a manipulated real skeleton or other remains (like many fake mermaids). See the Metabunk post on this for ideas about the three-fingered appendages.

If we’re talking “alien” and “hoax” body or evidence, it’s not surprising that Jaime Maussan is around. The past hoaxes Maussan was involved in promoting include:

Back in 2016, Biblical scholar Dr. Michael Hiser said: “Jaime Maussan should not be trusted. Ever. He is a serial fraud-perpetuator.”

What we have here is a group of folks with an unconventional agenda promoting a questionable artifact that they wish to use to alter public perception of human history. But one artifact that you keep to yourself and that for all intents and purposes screams FAKE will not do that. So far this story has not received mainstream press but give it a few more days. The tabloids will regurgitate this unconfirmed, highly dubious evidence word for unverified word with lots of gusto and zero skepticism.

Replies are open for knowledgeable commenters to supply additional information.

Minor edits 8:56 AM June 22

Addition (24 June 2017): Archaeologist Jeb Card pointed me to this twist in the story. There are TWO mummies. A Peruvian website posted today that they contacted a credentialed scientist from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi. He says that a person named Ronceros, tried to interest the experts in another mummy that is different from the Maussan mummy. He had also made a video saying it was an alien. But he later changed his story to say it was a representation of aliens made by the natives manufactured using real bones. No one was interested in the tale after it was confirmed by an actual archaeologist that the Ronceros mummy was faked.

And so we safely and conclusively close the question of whether these are “aliens”. They are not. They are manipulated artifacts. But questions remain as to why and how they were created. The cited article, written by Dr. Nahuel Monteblanco, excoriates the fact that native archaeological treasures and history are being plundered for such deplorable scams.

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