The Checua lineage shows that the early peopling of South America was not a simple, single expansion from a single source population that spread uniformly across the continent.

Different regions harbored genetically distinct populations that had been separated long enough to develop distinct genetic characters.

Colombia’s high plateau was home to one such population — one that left no visible trace in any of the other ancient genomes studied.

Second, it raises questions about what other regions might harbor similarly distinct populations.

If the Bogotá Altiplano — which has been archaeologically studied for decades — was home to a genetically distinct population that was unknown to science until 2025, what other corners of South America might yield comparable surprises?

Western Colombia, the Pacific lowlands, the Caribbean coast, the eastern lowlands of the Llanos — these regions remain almost entirely uncharted from an ancient DNA perspective.