At their height, the Muisca chiefdoms controlled most of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, organized complex redistribution economies, constructed salt-mining operations, and maintained the trading networks that circulated gold, emeralds, cotton, and other goods across a wide region of the northern Andes.

The question of the Muisca’s origins — where they came from and how they related to the earlier populations of the plateau — has been debated by archaeologists and historians.

Were the Muisca the descendants of the Herrera-period populations, or did they represent a new intrusion?

And what was the relationship between the Muisca cultural complex and the genetic ancestry of the people who created it?

The 2025 genetic study addressed these questions directly, analyzing three individuals associated with Muisca culture — from the Las Delicias site (approximately 1,200 years before present) and the Soacha site (approximately 520 years before present) — and comparing their genomes to the Herrera-period and Checua-period populations.