The 2024 study’s finding of genetic continuity between the ancient Chichén Itzá individuals and modern Maya from Tixcacaltuyub provides evidence that, at least in this comparison, the population genetic continuity across the contact period was substantial.

The modern Maya from this region appear to be genuine descendants — in a genetic as well as a historical and cultural sense — of the ancient people who lived at and around Chichén Itzá.

This is an important and meaningful finding, not merely as an abstract genetic result but as a statement about the historical experience of Maya people.

Despite the devastation of the colonial period, despite the population collapse and the centuries of political and cultural disruption, the Maya communities of the Yucatán Peninsula maintained genetic connections to their pre-contact ancestors.

The people are still there, carrying in their genomes the legacy of thousands of years of continuous presence in this landscape.