Nazca infant had rare, fatal birth defect that left her with one central eye 1,600 years ago

Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed the remains of an infant with an extremely rare birth defect, revealing a single central eye socket in the skull. DNA tests confirmed the condition, known as cyclopia, was caused by a chromosomal abnormality present at the time of fertilization over 1,600 years ago. The study, published in the journal PNAS, suggests the infant's burial in a ceramic urn alongside another healthy infant indicates they were treated similarly in death.

The condition, which affects roughly 1 in every 100,000 births, involves a failure of the brain's frontal lobe to divide properly during fetal development. While cyclopia is linked to advanced maternal age, it is unclear if that was the case for this infant. The infant, estimated to have survived for several weeks or months after birth, was buried in a single event with another infant without any developmental issues, suggesting she was not treated differently in death despite her rare condition.