The creepy secret of the 'skull island' in the Caribbean Sea

An uninhabited island with many irregular skull fragments in the middle of the Caribbean Sea has intrigued archaeologists. The island is named Petite Musique, nicknamed the island of skulls.

Hailed as groundbreaking research, just published in the International Journal of Paleopathology, has decoded the secret of "skull island" - an ancient infectious disease isolation island of mankind.

Distorted skull discovered on this uninhabited island

Using radiocarbon dating of irregular skulls discovered on this uninhabited island, scientists proved the existence of leprosy in the Caribbean 200 years ago.

According to Ancient Origins, the research team led by Professor Scott M.Fizpatrich from the University of Oregon (USA) said that evidence of leprosy in this area is very rare. However, there is also a special account that describes a particular hospital in a hard-to-reach or escape area, where lepers were banished from human society in the early 1800s.

"It has to be this island of skulls," according to Phys.org.

The researchers found that when humans discovered the New World and brought things like coffee, cigarettes, potatoes, chocolate. to other continents, there was also "trade". of pathogens that have spread between the two communities, for example syphilis has been identified as being transmitted from the Americas to Europe; while the Europeans brought measles, smallpox, and typhus to the New World.

It was that trade route that brought leprosy to the Caribbean, where people panicked at the disfigurement the disease caused to the unfortunate. Small islands turned into brutal quarantine camps.

The main remains are incomplete skulls, not caused by trauma but by disease - which "eats" into the bones - destroying, mainly the bones in the nose and upper jaw. The terrible history of the disease and the limited living conditions on the island may be the reason why the island remains uninhabited to this day.