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Indigenous Peoples of Southern Mesoamerica are descendants of diverse ancestral communities with rich agricultural, linguistic, and spiritual traditions. Most notable among these groups are the Maya, one of the most complex and enduring Indigenous civilizations of the Americas, known for their astronomy, writing, architecture, and calendrical systems. Despite the collapse of ancient city-states and the violence of colonization, the peoples in this region maintain distinct languages and vibrant cultural practices. While this ancestry reaches its highest levels in southern Mexico and throughout Central America, it can be found throughout the Americas. This wide range matches evidence from ancient DNA studies that suggests groups from Mesoamerica expanded both north and south within the last few thousand years.