The journey from the Isthmus of Panama to the Bogotá Altiplano — across lowland forests, up the slopes of the Andes, into the high cold plateau — would have taken many generations and involved significant adaptation to new environments.

The Herrera and Muisca cultures were distinctly Colombian and distinctly Andean in their development; the Central American ancestry connection refers to a deep ancestral source, not to a recent or direct cultural derivation.

But the genetic findings do support the idea that the northern Andes were a destination for population movements from the north — from the region where Central and South America connect — and that those movements fundamentally transformed the demographic character of the Bogotá Altiplano some two thousand years ago.

A Second Opening: What The Study Changes