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human bone with relative ease. The next step was to dissolve a shard of the Starchild's bone in a standard solvent called EDTA. The bone was put into a test tube in a rocker arm, and after one week it should have been dissolved. It wasn't, not even slightly. A powerful detergent had to be added to break it down— something never needed with normal human bone. Once the Starchild's DNA was recoverable, the geneticists went through their processes with it. They found that the DNA was well preserved and quite easy to recover from the solution in which it was dissolved. Its 900 years buried in a mine tunnel had left it in an almost pristine condition: it was never oxidised by scorching sunlight or leached by rainwater soaking it. It was much like a relatively fresh burial, as opposed to what the her mitochondrial DNA was tested, it was found to be from Haplogroup A, another common type of Amerindian. This meant that the Starchild and the woman who chose to commit suicide and die beside it were not genetically related. Perhaps she was an adoptive mother, or a close friend or caretaker, or lover or even its partner in life. We had no way to answer those questions or any number of others. Finding out that the Starchild had a human mother also forced us to drop the idea that it might be a pure Grey alien. Now, the most we could assume was that it might be a hybrid with a human mother and an alien father. This led to another assumption. If it was a human-alien hybrid, it was in all likelihood the result of genetic engineering rather than a normal sexual union. We based that assumption on the admittedly anecdotal evidence from many women of today who swear they've been abducted by Greys, made pregnant by e skull with the Starchild skull them in some unnatura manner, and then in the fourth month of their pregnancy had their foetuses removed and raised to birth weight in test tubes that many women see later when being introduced to their own living hybrid children. If such a program is occurring now, then why could it not have occurred 900 years ago? Following the revelations of the Starchild's mitochondrial DNA would be the analysis of its nuclear DNA, which could easily be the end of the line for us. Five years of effort would be riding on this one make-or-break test. With the Starchild's mother unquestionably a typical Amerindian, if the father's DNA showed up in the search for the nuclear DNA then we would close our case. The Starchild would have had two human parents, and that would be the end of it. No matter how unusual its physiological traits might be, if its genes showed two human parents then turn out the lights, the party's over. It was much like a relatively fresh burial, as opposed fe) what he geneticists normally had to deal with. (Our geneticists had worked on the famous Kennewick Man, the 9,000-year- old skeleton discovered in 1996 in Washington. They found that all of its DNA was hopelessly Comparison of the adult female skull with the Starchild skull degraded by exposure to the elements.) manner, and then in the fourth The Starchild's mitochondrial DNA was easily pregnancy had their foetuses remoy recovered and came up bright and clear in the gel birth weight in test tubes that many sheets used to reveal its make-up. It turned out to. when being introduced to their o have a human mother from what is known as _ children. If such a program is occurri Haplogroup C, which is a type of Amerindian common could it not have occurred 900 years é to both North and South America. There was nothing Following the revelations of unusual about it. However, this discovery ruled outa =mitochondrial DNA would be the couple of key assumptions that we had made abou nuclear DNA, which could easily be t the Starchild and its genetic heritage. or us. Five years of effort would be i We knew that the Starchild had died 900 years earlier = make-or-break test. With the Ste and seemed to have been buried by a human female unquestionably a typical Amerindié who then lay down beside its grave and committed DNA showed up in the search for the suicide. Their skeletons were found and their skulls | we would close our case. The Star recovered by a girl exploring a long-abandoned mine _ had two human parents, and that we tunnel in Mexico around 1930. We made the natura it. No matter how unusual its ph assumption that the human female had a very close might be, if its genes showed two hu relationship to the child: she was probably its mother, urn out the lights, the party's over. whether natural or adoptive. We could think of no other relationship they might have had that would The Starchild's Nuclear DNA warrant the ultimate sacrifice of her own life. To secure the recovery of DNA in When the human female's DNA was recovered and had only one technique available: tt as in The Starchild's Nuclear DNA To secure the recovery of DNA in 2003, geneticists had only one technique available: the use of primers, 60 * NEXUS Comparison of the adult female skull with the Starchild skull APRIL - MAY 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com