It is part of the story of survival — of how a population that lost the vast majority of its members to catastrophic disease continued, rebuilt, and maintained the cultural and genetic heritage of a civilization that has persisted for millennia.

Community Engagement in the Research

The 2024 Nature study acknowledged the importance of community engagement in the research process.

The investigation of human remains, particularly those from Indigenous contexts, raises specific ethical questions about whose knowledge and whose consent matter in the research process.

Archaeological research has a complicated history in this regard: the history of Indigenous human remains being removed from their communities, studied by outside researchers without community knowledge or consent, and housed in institutions far from their origin is a documented and ongoing concern in North American and Mesoamerican archaeology.

The research team noted their engagement with relevant Maya communities and stakeholders as part of the research process.