Debunking the "Nazca Mummies" in 2026

YouTube channel INCREDIBLE HISTORY (history teacher Will Brown): "EXPOSING The Craziest Hoax of All Time - Nazca Mummies" posted on YouTube Jan 5, 2026

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Posted on You Tube by Incredible History Jan 5 2026.

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"In this video, Doctor Dan Proctor, a PHD in Bio Anthropology, lays it out very clearly why Maria and Monseratt's hands and feet have been amputated and manipulated.
His observations are backed up by a Radiographer with over 2 decades of experience.
Doctor Joe Wilson, PHD in Anthropology with a background working in Molecular Genetic Testing explains to us why the DNA studies are all Bunk (see also here).
This video also features an interview with Raul from Pillars of the Past [@PillarsofthePast101], who is remaining agnostic on the topic but provided information about grave robbing as well as how much these new "Mummies" are selling for".

The first 28 minutes go through the evidence for the faking of the mummies from the use and abuse of human remains. The small mummies are shown to be (as by now most people think is clearly the case) pastiches made up from odd loose bones encased in some outer layer that is real dessicated skin. Much of it focuses on the mummy known as "Maria". Evidence is presented suggesting that the Nazca mummy "Maria" was created from a human mummy through deliberate manipulation, involving amputation and bone rearrangement to simulate a non-human form. Expert analysis indicates the hands exhibit signs of modern faking; for example, the trapezium bone, essential for thumb articulation, remains despite the removal of the thumb. In a natural tridactyl organism, the unused joint surfaces and the bone itself would not exist. To create unnaturally long fingers, additional bones were added. So the first metacarpal (normally part of the thumb and  featuring a distinctive V-shape inconsistent with a finger's hinge joint), has been relocated to lengthen a central finger.  

Similar techniques were applied to the feet to achieve a tridactyl look. Radiographic evidence shows that the first (big toe) and fifth (pinky toe) metatarsals were amputated. The remaining bones in the midfoot are disconnected and poorly aligned. One central metatarsal is "transposed," sitting awkwardly between where the second and third toes should be. Radiographers noted that certain soft tissues such as muscles in the sole of the foot were also amputated, which experts described as a "dead giveaway" for deliberate modification.

 
There is then a discussion of Monserrat (a male with different structure hands - was this the mummy that was being created that Mera refers to?). Similar problems are highlighted. There is then brief discussion of "Wawita" (a baby), as a clear example butchered mummy. 

Mr Brown then briefly introduces the story of Steve Mera (see my post on his video a year ago covering in more detail what Mr Mera discovered). He was asked to verify that these things were authentic finds, but when because of what he saw, he became sceptical the attitudes of his handlers changed:

"But these guys are dangerous. These were and you know they they've been involved in numerous things including allegedly um people have gone missing or been shot and so on and so forth. So you don't mess about with these guys. And um we like I say, we'd had our death threats, myself and Barry". 

The video then draws attention to the state of one of the mummies: 

"And if all that wasn't enough, it appears that Maria might just expose herself before anyone else does it. She's degrading at a rapid pace. Look at her chin and neck area. That looks like fiberglass tape or gauze. This is apparently new. In April 2025, when I went and saw Maria, that was not apparent. I was talking with my friend Raul from Pillars of the Past and he pointed out that maybe, if he just wanted to play devil's advocate here, it's some type of textile that was fused to the skin over time. And maybe, but even if that was the case, that would still put a big hole in the original story, which was that these mummies were found the way that they appear. But just look at the difference between her from when she was discovered in 2016 and now. People say it's because she's no longer covered in the diatomacous earth and she's degrading now that she's not in the environment that she was in before where she was discovered. Yeah. Or maybe it's because she was freshly Frankensteined back in 2016 with the diatomacous earth shortly before this picture was taken. And after 10 years of being dug up, she's rapidly degrading."

The discussion then turns to highlighting the connection between the clandestine excavation and trading of these faked mummies and the widespread grave robbing and a thriving black market for antiquities in Peru, as shared by Raul from the YouTube channel Pillars of the Past. Raul had recently met Mario, the grave robber (or "huaquero") credited with discovering these mummies. This encounter occurred serendipitously while Raul was staying at a hostel in the Palpa region; the owner connected him to Mario. Initially, Mario demanded $300 for 20 questions and charges up to $3,000 for desert tours, positioning himself as a profiteer in this niche. He revealed possessing hundreds more specimens beyond the few donated for study, and even showed Raul video footage of small, tailed "new models" on his phone, underscoring the ongoing exploitation of these finds.

In the video, the process of looting of sites, including ancient tombs, in Peru is depicted as an industrial-scale crisis, with Raul describing sites ravaged to the point of resembling the moon's surface, pockmarked by looting pits stretching up to eight kilometers. During his 2024 expedition, he encountered fields littered with thousands of scattered bones, body parts, and artifacts, with human remains torn apart and textiles discarded in disarray all lying on the ground surface. Looters target valuables like jewelry, metallurgy, and especially ancient textiles, which Raul witnessed being stripped from mummies and sold. 

The antiquities market driving this looting is criminal and lucrative, with a network of buyers often American, demanding provenance through videos of excavations to verify authenticity. Mario disclosed that for every few mummies studied, he has a hundred more, and buyers purchase even fragments like fingers. A small tailed specimen was priced at $20,000, illustrating the high value placed on these items, whether genuine or fabricated. Profits escalate as items pass through intermediaries, flipping for higher amounts. The black market thrives on international demand, perpetuating the cycle of destruction. Strikingly, the fascination with collecting Nazca mummies appears to be largely an American phenomenon. 

This video is well-researeched and put-together and does a good job of presenting the issue and placing it in a wider context. 

"Alien Mummies" of Peru: Huge Hoax

Steve Mera, 'The Biggest Hoax of the 21st Century - Alien Mummies of Peru" (47 min)

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Posted on YouTube by Steve Mera Official Sep 10, 2024

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Investigative researcher Steve Mera takes you on a thrilling journey into the mysterious world of the alleged Alien Mummies of Peru! Join him as he unveils shocking details from the physical examinations of these extraordinary finds, along with the intense analysis Barry Fitzgerald and he faced during their adventures in Peru. Don't miss this exclusive final revelation about the dark activities surrounding these incredible discoveries!

This is a rather discursive and vague account of this person's work on the mummies, first examining them while they were in the hands of haqueros in a mock laboratory 'the Incari Institute' (to make the photos look convincing?) in a rundown warehouse where these were being kept. This expedition by the team from the "Phenomenon Project" was carried out in July 2017 (participants Steve Mera and Barry Fitzgerald). They were granted access to take DNA and carbon-14 samples from several specimens, including the large mummy known as Maria. These produced results that were difficult to interpret, and so a second trip was mounted in 2018, to gather more data and confirm initial findings. It was clear at first sight that some of the mummies (especially the mini-mummies the size of a Barbie-doll) were fakes. They had some doubts about the body known as "Maria". This was clearly an adult corpse (the C14 date was "between 245 AD and 410 AD") that had been dugup and Mera and Fitzgerald determined had been manipulated to make it into a three-fingered individual. Any cut marks and so on were covered up with a liberal coating of a plaster made of diatomaceous earth (which can be obtained in many areas of Peru). One important feature:

" in Maria's long finger which is longer than a human finger and only three of them of course is that a sample taken from here and asample taken from here identified that these these two bones were from two different sources in fact human bones but two different humans so the contaminant cross them was a mix of multiple DNA from two or three even individuals uh and that caused a massive massive problem um when that was discovered realized very quickly what was going on here that Maria had been completely manipulated"

There was also another corpse, a baby called by the finders "Wawita". This too had been manipulated and the fingers removed to make it into a "tridactile".

Mera and Fitzgerald also discovered that other bodies had been made of a pastiche of human bones from a variety of burials (including child bones).

There were two taxidermists involved we found them and we knew where they were they were, in Palpa working on them. In fact they were working on another male, another Maria in fact, this time a male and they were all already almost ready to release another one. We found out because we had guys on the ground working with us and they had done some fantastic work for us. But we wanted to try and find out what the hell is going on here and it's a really dark and sinister story because Maria was on for sale on the black market for a million dollars, the small fake doll ones which are maybe about 12, 20, 24 to 36 inches long there are several of them in various positions which had been messed with um and they were just generally creations, they were never any real, even then were like up from $30,000 to $50,000 you know, it was just crazy and it was about all about money, scam money making.

Mera argues that all of these mummies are deliberate fabrications rather than authentic ancient or non-human remains. Despite sustained harassment, threats, and public attacks, he continued to publish findings through articles and two documentaries, with the stated aim of countering what he views as an ongoing deception of the public (and potential buyers of these artefacts).

He claims that the mummies are being illegally manufactured and sold on the black market for substantial sums, with some specimens already trafficked internationally. Renewed media attention (particularly through recent Mexican congressional hearings) has, in his view, revived false claims that the remains are extraterrestrial, thereby increasing demand and incentivising further production.

The investigation is presented as unusually distressing because it involved evidence that real human remains, including those of children, were exhumed and manipulated. According to his account, impoverished locals were allegedly paid by criminal groups to dig up bodies and collect materials. A whistleblower interview is cited as confirming this practice, and the investigator states that he received death threats as a result of his work.

From an anatomical and forensic perspective, he argues that the specimens are crude composites: bodies assembled from human and animal bones (including dogs, llamas, and fish), sometimes with bones incorrectly oriented, lacking functional joints, and incapable of biological movement. Skin, hair, and nails are said to have been taken from animals or corpses and applied to create a lifelike appearance. Claims involving eggs, reptilian features, or locomotion are dismissed as demonstrably inconsistent with X-ray imaging and basic anatomical principles.

Laboratory analyses, conducted with documented chains of custody, reportedly revealed mixed DNA within individual specimens, which the investigator interprets as conclusive evidence of fabrication. Independent assessments by professors of anthropology from multiple universities (including institutions in Paris, Moscow, Lima, and Sri Lanka) are cited as having reached the same conclusion: the remains are not authentic biological organisms.

He states that he has now ended his involvement, having released what he considers a final, conclusive documentary. He argues that media sensationalism, financial incentives, and the willingness of audiences to believe extraordinary claims ensure the controversy will continue regardless of the evidence presented. His central position is that the “Nazca mummies” phenomenon is driven by profit and publicity rather than credible science, and that none of the examined specimens represent genuine ancient or non-human beings.

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The true story of the fake "alien mummies" is wilder than actual aliens

All the greed, fraud, centuries of racism, and deteriorated llama skulls behind Mexico’s unboxed aliens (Aja Romano, 'The true story of the fake unboxed aliens is wilder than actual aliens', Vox Sep 16, 2023). The article discsses:

"two recently unboxed 1,000-year-old aliens, revealed to the world by a crew of conspiracists with a history of trying (and failing) to make 1,000-year-old aliens happen.

The Mexican Congress was holding a hearing on the existence of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), on Wednesday, September 13 [2023], when the alleged Peruvian aliens were hand-delivered in a dramatic coffin-like box. The box contained a pair of dusty figures with elongated skulls on hose-like necks. They had three fingers instead of the usual five, and bore a faint resemblance to Spielberg’s E.T.

Alas for truthers: These skeletons are not alien life forms. Instead, they are most likely a composite of pre-Columbian human remains and animal bones, all pieced together with some plaster.

But how they aren’t real is a story that’s frankly wilder than aliens.

In fact, these little guys appear to have been literally crowdfunded into existence in 2017 as part of an ongoing attempt to create the illusion that these hucksters are sitting on an ancient alien gold mine. And that’s just the tip of the alien scam iceberg. The full picture includes a long lineup of skeevy con men dedicated to passing themselves off as pseudoscientific “experts,” from media veterans to fake archaeologists and doctors with dubious degrees — all committed to insisting (even as a litany of real scientists line up to object) that their fake aliens are real.

[more here].

Fake and Alien Mummies

Guido Lombardi & Conrado Rodríguez Martín 2021, 'Fake and Alien Mummies', pp 1139–1152 [in:] Shin, D.H., Bianucci, R. (eds) The Handbook of Mummy Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3354-9_36.

Abstract Mummies’ popularity and attractiveness is a well-established fact for all museums that have placed them on display. Public fascination is rooted in the apparently counter natural avoidance of decay these bodies have achieved in some unfathomable ways. Nevertheless, this morbid attraction has also fueled the creativity of some people in wrong ways, probably from time immemorial. In recent academic memory, though, it is known that purported mermaids and makeshift Egyptian mummies, for instance, toured Europe and North America from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, as part of circuses’ side and freakshows. Although most of visitors saw them tongue-in-cheek, their continuity was guaranteed by their display being profitable. It was education and respect of fellow humans’ demise, which slowly phased out these once prevalent elements of popular culture.

The academic world has not been spared by the manipulation of human remains, in order to escalate positions in an ill manner, or as an easy way to obtain quick fame, popularity, and even income. Though the Piltdown skull case stands as the foremost from a historical perspective, sadly, it is far from standing alone. Recent on-line and television appearance of purportedly extraterrestrial remains excavated in unknown circumstances in the Southern Peruvian coast has revealed itself as the end product of a long process which joins grave looting, yellow press, and some disoriented professionals. Organizers and attendees to the IX World Congress on Mummy Studies held in Lima, Peru, faced a disinformation campaign by presenting a declaration preventing the public and the media of this hoax. Since then, the producers of this scam program have kept, unfortunately, trying to validate their claims by using fallacious strategies, fueled by the revenue of selling the show.

Forgeries are obscure in their own nature. Scammers purposefully hide the true origin of their products. This has been the case of these false alien mummies supposedly found near Nazca by grave looters. The location remains in secrecy, the discoverer only accessible to the production ring; and any attempt to oppose their plot faces attacks and more deception build up on, namely, conspiracy theories.

In the time of artificial intelligence development to unprecedented levels, and of deep fake creations quickly distributed online, we could only foresee newer attempts to not only fool the media and the public, but also academia. The main aim of this chapter is to prevent this from happening, through exposure and education. 

hat tip: Joseph A P Wilson @JosephAPWilson1.

Atlantic: The Racism Behind Alien Mummy Hoaxes

Pre-Columbian bodies are once again being used as evidence for extraterrestrial life (Christopher Heaney, ' The Racism Behind Alien Mummy Hoaxes', The Atlantic, August 1, 2017).

Peruvian archaeologists are tired of debunking claims of extraterrestrial influence on human history. In 1968, Swiss author Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods? introduced the mainstream to the theory that the Nazca Lines, the massive geoglyphs in Southern Peru whose shapes are fully visible only from the air, were landing strips for “ancient astronauts.” Archaeologists calmly disagree, positing that they were astronomical designs that turned the desert itself into an observatory, or counter constellations matching the dark spaces in the Milky Way, or, more abstractly, cosmological figures meant to be seen by skyward deities, of which ancient Peru had many. 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull put a new spin on this old tale, including, for good measure, the large-skulled aliens that pepper North American abduction stories.

Now, Peruvian scientists are furious at a new and possibly pernicious permutation of the “ancient astronaut” theory. A web series named Unearthing Nazca purports to depict the investigation of a pre-Columbian and “humanoid” mummy. Archaeologists, who have been denied access to the mummy, worry that it is as old as the series’ creators claim, but that it is actually indigenous and Andean — a real human individual that has been mutilated to look like an alien. They worry that Unearthing Nazca is an archaeological snuff film in disguise.

The series’ success is also of concern. Since the series’ launch in June by Gaia.com — a website specializing in “conscious media, yoga, and more” — the teaser episode of Unearthing Nazca has been viewed 2.35 million times on YouTube alone. [...] The camera orbits the mummy, revealing that it has only three long fingers on each hand and three long toes on each foot. Its elongated head has no nose, no ears, and large, heavy-lidded eyes. And its skin is an eerie, powdery white.

The video’s experts stop short of the A-word, letting a series of vest-wearing and white coat-clad “experts” claim that x-rays, CT scans, and DNA and carbon-14 tests of the mummy’s flesh reveal that this new “humanoid” or “organic creature,” whom they have dubbed “Maria,” is no fraud. To learn more, viewers were initially encouraged to watch the rest of the investigation behind Gaia’s paywall.

The English- and Spanish-language tabloids and YouTube channels that cover the “discovery” reliably fill in the blanks, guarding journalistic integrity with scare quotes: “The ‘Alien’ Mummies of Nazca,” trumpeted The Sun in mid-July, when the mummy’s most prominent promoter, a Mexican “ufologist” and TV personality named Jaime Maussan, produced photographic and x-ray “proof” of at least four additional more “reptilian” “humanoid” bodies.

Because of course: What else could they be? [...] Peruvian scientists held their fire in public until June [2016?], when Unearthing Nazca revealed the previously un-photographed “Maria,” whose dramatic resemblance to actual Peruvian mummies—down to an almost anatomically correct CT scan—suggested that she wasn’t a pastiche of animal and human bones, but an actual pre-Columbian Andean, looted and remade for the sake of a hoax. [...] To complete the package of “Maria,” her nose and ears may have been sliced away from what was either an unsurprisingly elongated head, or were left off of a recently fabricated one. Evidence of all alterations could easily be covered up with the white, plastery powder that the talking heads on Unearthing Nazca claim is a desiccant.

Declaration of the Scientific Community Regarding the fraud of Extraterrestrial Mummies

From Reddit:
Right after the 9th World Congress on Mummy Studies, held in Lima, Peru, in 2017, a press conference was called by associates of a North American TV production company to release the news of the discovery of a set of extraterres-trial mummies in Nazca. Several researchers, including the organizers of the 9WCMS, after evaluating all evidence available (mostly on-line photographs, including X-ray plates), decided to inform the public about the hoax by publishing the following:

DECLARATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY REGARDING THE FRAUD OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL MUMMIES

The subscribers of this document, members of the national and international scientific community, experts in the study and conservation of human remains (mummies and skeletons), communicate the following:

1.- In the last few months, the alleged discovery of “extraterrestrial mummies” in our country has been publicized through an irresponsible, organized disinformation campaign.

2.- Testimonies and published images on this case, allow to assert that these findings correspond undoubtedly to pre-Columbian human remains – Cultural Patrimony of the Nation –, maliciously manipulated and even mutilated to obtain an “ad hoc” appearance for commercial exploitation. Moreover, the exclusion of the entire related archaeological contexts is absolutely contrary to the scientific investigation of this kind of cultural finds.

3.- It is upon our authorities to make the corresponding accusations, since this “production” has violated numerous national and international norms that watch for the defense of Cultural Heritage. We hope that these same authorities will seek the protection and correct investigation of these remains and their place of origin, in order to stop looting and trafficking of human remains. We also expect exemplary sanctions for those responsible of this depredation of heritage that is of all Peruvians and Humanity as a whole.

4.- Finally, the criminal abuse of corpses for petty ends violates human dignity in a profound way. Thus, exploitation of pre-Columbian mummies carried out by this organization, attacks and particularly offends the Andean Culture, implying that its achievements were due to an alleged “alien aid”. We offer our best offices to collaborate with the authorities to demonstrate our statements in the corresponding instances. We also offer to participate in activities that would defend our patrimony and help educate the public about our ancestors and their legacy.

Lima, July 10, 2017. Sonia Guillén, Guido Lombardi, Elsa Tomasto-Cagigao, María del Carmen Vega, Mellisa Lund, Patricia Maita, Martha Palma, Carlos Herz, Alejandra Valverde, Marcela Urizar; more signatures and accessions follow.