Studies have also examined the genetic impact of the post-contact demographic catastrophe, investigating whether the severe population declines of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries produced detectable genetic bottlenecks in the surviving populations.

The results are complex and vary by region, reflecting the different intensities of epidemic mortality, displacement, and social disruption in different parts of the Maya world.

The accumulating body of ancient Maya genomic data is also beginning to shed light on questions of long-range population movement and connectivity — how genetic ancestry flowed between the Maya world and neighboring regions of Mesoamerica, and how ancient migrations and cultural interactions shaped the genetic diversity of Maya populations over time.

The Specific Rarity of Ancient Twin Identification