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From the paper [1]: > Here we analyse genome-wide variation in individuals from islands across Polynesia for signs of Native American admixture, analysing 807
by sradman 6y ago
From the paper [1]:
> Here we analyse genome-wide variation in individuals from islands across Polynesia for signs of Native American admixture, analysing 807 individuals from 17 island populations and 15 Pacific coast Native American groups. We find conclusive evidence for prehistoric contact of Polynesian individuals with Native American individuals (around ad 1200) contemporaneous with the settlement of remote Oceania. Our analyses suggest strongly that a single contact event occurred in eastern Polynesia, before the settlement of Rapa Nui, between Polynesian individuals and a Native American group most closely related to the indigenous inhabitants of present-day Colombia.
Rapa Nui is Easter Island. No surprises on the genetic front but the navigational path sailed holds intriguing possibilities.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2487-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2487-2
- jeffreyrogers 6y agoIsn't the headline wrong then? If the contact occurred in Polynesia, then the "epic voyage" should be from South America to Polynesia.
- irrational 6y agoIf you read the article you will see that they aren't sure if there were people going from Polynesia to South America, or from South America to Polynesia. Or it could have been both ways.
- sradman 6y agoFor clarification, jeffreyrogers correctly states that the HN headline, based on the NYTimes subtitle "A new genetic study suggests that Polynesians made an epic voyage to^ South America 800 years ago", is wrong. As "irrational" points out, an epic journey did occur but we don't know the direction. To^ shouldn't be in the headline. Neither should "from". The Polynesians are proven navigators but the natural current from Columbia/Ecuador to eastern Polynesia makes the alternative path quite plausible as demonstrated by Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition.