Scientists Analyzed Ancient Aztec DNA — What They Found Changes History

A 2023 genetic study published in Science analyzed ancient DNA from bones across Central Mexico and discovered that the Aztecs (Mexica) were not a single migratory group from Aztlan as traditional history claimed, but rather a complex population with deep roots in the region and at least two 'ghost populations'—ancestral groups whose remains have never been found but whose genetic signatures persist in modern indigenous communities. This finding challenges the traditional narrative that the Aztecs were northern migrants who followed an eagle-on-cactus sign to found Tenochtitlan, revealing instead that they were the endpoint of a much older, more complex genetic story spanning thousands of years.