A title that may be translated as:

The Maya never really disappeared. They are speaking Q’eqchi’ today. Alta Verapaz and El Petén – Three thousand Years of History.

Documentaries about Classic Maya culture often insinuate that the great pyramid-builders mysteriously disappeared from the face of the earth. More sophisticated studies suggest that they migrated north, to Yucatan, to cities like Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Very few researchers consider the possibility that Maya people migrated south – to the Alta Verapaz. Even though the historical dynamics at the end of the Classic clearly indicate such a direction. This book, covering three thousand years of history of the Petén and Alta Verapaz, shows that many descendants of the Classic Maya were absorbed by the Q’eqchi’ Maya. The key to that understanding is their Ch’ol surname, the language of the builders of the great pyramids. Indeed, the book includes a large section on these Classic surnames, today considered Q’eqchi’ yet of Ch’ol origin.

Linguistic and Ethnic Map from the middle of the Sixteenth Century, just as the first Dominicans found these different Maya groups (Map is in the book)