The solution involved extensive training — archaeologists learning to dive, divers learning archaeological documentation methods — and the development of specifically designed tools and protocols for underwater archaeological work at depth.

The photogrammetric documentation system used at Hoyo Negro — which allowed the team to create detailed three-dimensional maps of the chamber floor from sequences of underwater photographs — was one of the technical innovations that the project drove, and it has since been adopted at other underwater archaeological sites.

James Chatters, the forensic anthropologist who had been one of the first scientists to examine the Kennewick Man remains and who was well-known in the field of early American physical anthropology, was involved in the morphological analysis of Naia’s skeleton.

His participation brought expertise in the specific question of early American skull morphology — the very question that the Hoyo Negro finding most directly addressed — as well as a connection to the broader ongoing debate about early American population diversity.