The broader genomic analysis found evidence of genetic continuity between the ancient individuals and modern Maya people from the Tixcacaltuyub community in Yucatán, confirming that the modern Maya are the genuine biological descendants of the ancient population of the region.

Examination of immune-related genes found patterns consistent with selection during the post-contact epidemic period, adding a biological dimension to the historical record of the demographic catastrophe that followed European contact.

And through all of this — through the statistics and the genomic analysis and the isotope work and the radiocarbon dating — two pairs of children who were born as identical twins are now known to the world in a way that would not have been possible without ancient DNA.

They were there, in the underground chamber near the Sacred Cenote, in a city that their families and their community built and inhabited and believed in.