With its cone-shaped skull, slanted eye sockets and ten pairs of ribs, this minuscule mummy found in the Atacama desert left scientists scratching their heads for years.

Discovered by treasure hunter Oscar Muño, the strange remains were nicknamed 'Ata'.

The strange, mummified bones were found in 2003 inside a leather pouch wrapped in a white cloth, which was tied with a purple ribbon.

Found in an abandoned church in a deserted mining town called La Noria, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, the six-inch body's strange slanted eye sockets, cone-shaped skull and ten pairs of ribs (not the usual human amount of 12), left some speculating the find was of alien origin.

Following the UFO documentary, Sirius, which backed the alien theory, UFO theorists descended on the abandoned mining town.

First thought to be ancient, analysis on the remains later concluded that the mummified corpse died in the 1970s.

There are no official records about what the tiny body was, but scientists debunked the alien theory in 2008 after tests from Stanford University, San Francisco and the University of California unveiled that Ata was, indeed, a human being.

The skeleton - found to be female - was thought to have been a premature baby who died just after birth. She had several genetic conditions stunting her growth including dwarfism and bone abnormalities.

Garry Nolan, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine, believes further research on Ata will benefit parents in future, providing clues for those with bone growth issues.

Dr Nolan picked up her case in 2012 after a friend said he might have found an alien.

"This research clarifies what has been a very public and sensationalised story for a long time, and it was done out of a desire to bring some humanity to this discussion and dignity to the skeleton," he told the Times that year.

“The DNA and images come from remains that were not known to be human when the research began.

"It has long been known that this skeleton was privately held in Spain, without any allegations of criminal conduct as to how it was acquired."

But writing in the online magazine Etilmercurio, Cristina Dorador, from the University of Antofagasta, asked the Chilean government to condemn the research.

She said: "We do not know how a little girl came to be buried next to the church in the abandoned town.

"We do not know if she was born alive, but we do know she was treated with care and love in her last moments, being carefully covered in a white cloth and a violet ribbon.

"From the presumed timeline of her death, it is likely that her mother probably is still alive. Given the amount of interest about the case in the media.

"It is also possible that the family has been forced to relive events from 40 years ago.

"But what is the fate of the girl of La Noria? A dark drawer in some place in Europe."