And the question of how the living Maya communities relate to this research, what they make of the findings, and how the knowledge generated by the 2024 study contributes to or complicates the ongoing relationship between Maya communities and the archaeological interpretation of their ancestors’ lives: this is a question that will be answered, if at all, in dialogue with those communities rather than by outside researchers working alone.

A Final Thought

The subterranean chamber carved from the limestone of the Yucatán Peninsula has been empty of its original contents since the excavations that first brought the remains of the children to light.

The bones are now in institutional storage, subject to the regulations and ethical frameworks that govern the care of Indigenous human remains in Mexico.

The site itself — the chultún, the cenote, the pyramids and plazas of Chichén Itzá — continues to exist in the landscape of a peninsula that has been inhabited by Maya people for thousands of years and that continues to be inhabited by their descendants today.

The ancient DNA that was extracted from the left petrous bones of 64 children has been analyzed, published, and added to the scientific record.