But in 1928, Julio Tello, a Peruvian archaeologist, came across extraordinary large, elongated skulls in a cemetery in Paracas, Peru. These skulls had a cranial capacity that far exceeded the norm for modern humans. These examples were puzzling because of their unorthodox size and structure, and remain so to this day

But in 1928, Julio Tello, a Peruvian archaeologist, came across extraordinary large, elongated skulls in a cemetery in Paracas, Peru. These skulls had a cranial capacity that far exceeded the norm for modern humans. These examples were puzzling because of their unorthodox size and structure, and remain so to this day. In fact, DNA testing in 2014 perhaps only muddied the water further, when a geneticist reported that they have mitochondrial DNA "with mutations unknown in any human, primate or animal known so far." And then further testing in labs in Canada and the U.S. claimed they were from the "haplogroup (genetic population group) of H2A, which is found most frequently in Eastern Europe and at a low frequency in Western Europe." Other elongated skulls have been located at Nazca, 111 miles (178 km) to the south and dated to 200 to 100 BC, Tumbes 935 miles (1500 km) north of Paracas and the Colca Valley in the southeast of the country (from the Collagua people and dated to 1100 to 1450 AD).

follow Ancient History for more