A study released Wednesday showed that the megaliths of Easter Island are related to islands thousands of miles away.
Research revealed that different groups of people moved from small islands east of Tahiti over 250 years to settle Easter Island and the Marquesas archipelagos. Although thousands of miles apart, they all had similar ancient statues.
Alexander Ioannidis, Stanford University's study lead author, told AFP that these statues only exist on islands that are genetically closely related.
Ioannidis' team was able to date and map the path of the first Polynesians, using cutting-edge DNA analysis. They started in Samoa, and spread out across the Pacific between 830 and 1360.
Ioannidis stated that "this had been an open issue since Captain Cook noticed that all the Polynesian islanders spoke the same language."
According to the findings, the expansion occurred quickly over 17 generations. This was faster than any major cultural or language changes that could have been used as markers.
Researchers were able to solve the mystery of trans-Pacific migration through a comparison of genetic material from 430 people living today on 21 islands.
Samoa's outward expansion continued westward towards Fiji and Tonga in South Africa, then eastward to Raratonga in East Africa around the year 830.
Small islands ring-shaped and small
A few hundred years later descendants of Raratonga set sail to settle Tahiti and the Tuamotu archipelago beyond.
Ioannidis stated that it is from the tiny, overlooked sandbar islands of Tuamotu where the most ambitious forays are set out.
The Tuamotus, which are now sparsely populated due in part to their nuclear testing grounds role, span an area that is equal to the distance between England & Greece.
According to the study, low-lying islands probably formed from below sea level a few hundred year before Polynesians arrived.
Ioannidis stated that "they needed to have a marine culture to get inbetween these small, ring-like island groups."
"I believe that that explains in part why we see the longest-distance journeys going out from there."
This was the place where the megalith-building peoples arrived to live on the Marquesas and Raivavae.
Ioannidis's DNA-based findings earlier this year, showing that Native Americans likely came from the northwestern coast of South America, and Polynesians mingled about the year 1200, are consistent with these expansions.
Modern DNA reveals ancient clues
Ioannidis stated that the date that we found for this contact was very similar to the dates that we find for these voyages from the Tuamotus to settle remote islands.
Today's Polynesian population has a mixed heritage. They have traces of Europe and Africa in their ancestry.
Ioannidis stated that his team was able to identify telltale sequences in modern DNA, whereas most genetic studies of ancient peoples focus on ancient DNA samples found at archaeological sites.
The software was used to analyze samples from 430 people on 21 islands in order to identify gene patterns that are recurring among Polynesians. It also blocked out DNA sequences that were associated with European or other ancestry.
Ioannidis stated that if this were the case, you would find that the islands with the most Polynesian DNA are more closely related.
"That's not interesting historical perspective."
His team used genetic clues to create a type of family tree from the Pacific, East-to-West.
Because DNA strands shrink as they are recombined over time, the lengths of shared segments reveal how many generations have passed between each settlement.
Agence France-Presse
