Presenting Maya civilization primarily through the lens of sacrifice distorts a far richer historical reality.

Living Maya communities today are the descendants of the same civilization that built Chichén Itzá, and they maintain diverse cultural, linguistic, and spiritual traditions that continue into the present.

The ancient individuals in the chultún are their ancestors, not the spectacle of a foreign culture.

The Genetic Continuity Finding

Alongside the specific findings about the children in the chultún, the 2024 study investigated a broader question about the population genetics of ancient and modern Maya people from the region.

The ancient genome data from the Chichén Itzá chultún was compared to genetic data from present-day Maya individuals, specifically from a community called Tixcacaltuyub, located in Yucatán, Mexico.