4 ms·
It wasn't from Pacific islands, they're not close enough to America. The closest polynesian island is Easter Island and it's 2,000 miles away and was only reach
by downWidOutaFite 3y ago
It wasn't from Pacific islands, they're not close enough to America. The closest polynesian island is Easter Island and it's 2,000 miles away and was only reached 1,000 years ago.
- bhickey 3y agoWell, it might've been from the Pacific. There's genetic evidence for Polynesian individuals in S. Amer prior to the settlement of Easter Island. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32641827/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32641827/
- AlotOfReading 3y agoPolynesians were among the greatest navigators in world history and didn't reach the eastern Pacific until many thousands of years later. It's like pointing to Alex Honnold to argue that ancient people climbed cliffs instead of walking around. Yeah, it's physically possible but there's a hell of a lot of skill, knowledge, and technology that goes into supporting those physical feats. Besides, Polynesians are genetically distant from the oldest DNA we've recovered in the Americas, which universally points to a northeastern Asian origin for early Americans.
- bhickey 3y agoI was responding to the GP who incorrectly stated that there wasn't Polynesian gene flow to the Americas prior to 1000 years ago. The evidence of early admixture events is quite strong. No one thinks the Americas were initially peopled across the Pacific — please do pardon my imprecision!