Two thousand years before the present corresponds to approximately 0 CE — the beginning of the Common Era.

This is a period that is broadly contemporaneous with the Roman Empire in Europe, the Han Dynasty in China, and the Olmec and early Maya periods in Mesoamerica.

It is a period for which archaeology provides substantial documentation across much of the world, and it is within the range of some historical and ethnographic records from adjacent regions.

On the Bogotá Altiplano, 2,000 years before present marks the beginning of the Herrera ceramic tradition — the appearance of a distinctive pottery tradition that represents a significant cultural transformation from the earlier Preceramic period.

The 2025 study provides the genetic evidence that this cultural transformation was accompanied by, or caused by, a major demographic shift: the arrival of people with Central American-related ancestry who replaced the earlier Checua lineage.