The involvement of Colombian researchers was not incidental.

They brought knowledge of the archaeological context, the institutional relationships with Colombian heritage institutions that allowed access to the ancient materials, and the local expertise that makes it possible to navigate the complex permissions and collaborative frameworks that archaeological research in Colombia requires.

José Vicente Rodríguez Cuenca’s contributions as a physical anthropologist, William Usaquén’s work in biological anthropology, and the other Colombian contributors to the study represent an integration of international methodological expertise with local scientific and archaeological knowledge.

This kind of international collaboration is increasingly the model for ancient DNA research in Latin America and in other regions where the materials of interest are held by national institutions and where the scientific capacity to analyze those materials is distributed across multiple countries and institutions.