The 6,000-Year-Old People Found Near Bogotá — And The DNA Test That Revealed A Native American Lineage That Vanished From The Genetic Record

The Gap: 6,000 To 2,000 Years Before Present

Here is where the mystery deepens, and where the honest scientific answer requires acknowledging real uncertainty.

Between the Checua individuals at approximately 6,000 years before present and the Herrera-period individuals at approximately 2,000 years before present, there is a gap of roughly four thousand years in the genomic dataset.

The study does not have genetic data from Altiplano individuals who lived in between — at 5,000, 4,000, or 3,000 years before present.

This means that researchers cannot say precisely when the Checua-related ancestry disappeared from the local genetic record, or how gradually or abruptly the transition occurred.