the trouble with this is that many of the easter island inhabitant were shipped to south america where they stayed for some time before returning. as well, many south americans visited easter island
the chances of the researcher getting a sample of pure easter island stock are not that great.
Good point. Combined with the botanical and other evidence though, which is from before the period of South American contact I think you’re referring to (post-Columbus?), this can’t be discarded.
From the article at the link: “Because most of Thorsby’s volunteers came from one extended family, he was able to work out when the HLA genes entered their lineage. The most probable first known carrier was a woman named Maria Aquala, born in 1846. Crucially, that was before the slave traders arrived in the 1860s and began interbreeding with the islanders.”
As an aside, I think ‘intermarrying’ would have been a better choice of word in the article.