The Work That Continues
The story of the Punín-2 skull did not end with the publication of the facial reconstruction in October 2026. It continues in the fundraising that Rynn and Flores Franco and the University of Chimborazo team are undertaking for the next phase of research, which will include the attempt at ancient DNA analysis of both Punín skulls and the production of a physical bust of the Punín-2 reconstruction.
The ancient DNA analysis is the piece that could most dramatically change the scientific picture. If successful, it would provide the genetic confirmation of Native American ancestry that the morphological and reconstruction evidence strongly suggests but cannot definitively establish. It would place the Punín-2 individual within the phylogenetic framework of ancient and modern Native American populations, potentially identifying which specific lineage he belonged to and how closely he is related to specific modern populations in Ecuador and the surrounding region.
“DNA will tell us the true genetic lineage,” Rynn said. The statement acknowledges the primacy of genetic evidence in establishing ancestry questions — a primacy that has been established by the accumulated results of ancient DNA research over the past decade. The facial reconstruction is valuable as a humanizing, visually accessible representation of the individual. The DNA would be the definitive scientific characterization.
Whether the Andean preservation conditions allow successful DNA extraction remains to be established. The attempt itself is scientifically worthwhile regardless of outcome: a failed attempt, if documented properly, contributes to understanding of preservation conditions in this kind of environment. A successful attempt would add the Punín-2 individual to the growing database of ancient American genomes and contribute to the picture of South American genetic prehistory.
The physical bust planned for 2027 will add a different kind of presence to the Punín-2 story: a three-dimensional object that can be touched, examined from every angle, and experienced in a way that a digital image cannot be. For the community of Chimborazo, the physical bust will be something that can be placed in a community space — a cultural center, a school, a museum — and encountered as a physical presence rather than viewed on a screen.
The research program that produced the Punín-2 facial reconstruction is ongoing. The skull that a farmer found in a ravine in the 1970s, that generated a century’s worth of controversy beginning with its companion’s discovery in 1923, continues to yield new information and new understanding more than three thousand years after the man it belonged to died.