The single most provocative question that the 2024 findings raise — more provocative than the twin finding itself, in some ways — is the question of how these specific children came to be in this specific place.

The characteristics of the assemblage: all male, a quarter with close relatives in the group, two pairs of identical twins, deposited over centuries in a subterranean feature near the Sacred Cenote.

These characteristics did not happen by chance.

They reflect selection — choices made by the living about who would be interred in this feature.

Understanding those choices, and the criteria that guided them, is where the greatest remaining uncertainty lies.

Were twins specifically sought out and selected?