The most important of these transformations was agricultural intensification.

While maize cultivation first appeared on the Altiplano around 3,800 years before present, the Herrera period saw its expansion and the development of more complex food production systems.

The populations of the Herrera period appear to have been more sedentary than their Preceramic predecessors, living in larger settlements and maintaining more systematic relationships with their agricultural landscapes.

The Laguna de la Herrera site — from which the nine Herrera-period individuals in the 2025 study were analyzed — is situated along what was historically a lake environment on the western edge of the Bogotá savanna.

Lake and wetland margins are productive environments for sedentary agricultural communities, offering abundant water, rich soils, and diverse food resources from both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.