The genetic profile of the Herrera-period individuals, as established by the 2025 study, shows the shift in ancestry that the researchers documented: ancestry related to Central American populations and Chibchan-language communities, replacing the earlier Checua-related ancestry entirely.

No detectable component of the Checua group’s distinct genetic signature was found in the Herrera individuals.

This represents a complete genetic turnover — the most dramatic finding in the paper’s analysis of the Altiplano time series.

Whatever processes brought the Herrera-period population to the plateau, they effectively replaced the earlier genetic ancestry without apparent continuation of the earlier lineage.

Or at least, that is what the available data shows.

The caveat about the four-thousand-year gap in the genomic record applies here as well.