Their bones, analyzed separately, would appear as two ordinary individuals.

Only genomic comparison can establish the near-identical genetic profiles that identify monozygotic twins.

Without ancient DNA, the two pairs of identical twins in the chultún would have remained forever unknown as twins.

The transformation that ancient genomics brings to archaeological interpretation is not the replacement of traditional methods but their extension.

The skeletal analysis, the stable isotope work, the radiocarbon dating, the spatial analysis of the burial feature, the broader archaeological interpretation of Chichén Itzá’s history: all of these remain essential and complementary.

Ancient genomics adds new dimensions of information that enrich and sometimes transform the interpretation of evidence that traditional methods have already established.