Posted on 01/18/2008 6:57:04 AM PST by Dysart
The ancestral relationships of people living in the widely scattered islands of the Pacific Ocean, long a puzzle to anthropologists, may have been solved by a new genetic study, researchers reported Thursday.
In an analysis of the DNA of 1,000 individuals from 41 Pacific populations, an international team of scientists found strong evidence showing that Polynesians and Micronesians in the central and eastern islands had almost no genetic relationship to Melanesians, in the western islands like Papua New Guinea and the Bismarck and Solomons archipelagos.
The researchers also concluded that the genetic data showed that the Polynesians and Micronesians were most closely related to Taiwan Aborigines and East Asians. They said this supported the view that these migrating seafarers originated in Taiwan and coastal China at least 3,500 years ago.
The findings were described in the online journal Public Library of Science Genetics (www.plosgenetics.org) by researchers led by Jonathan S. Friedlaender, professor emeritus of biological anthropology at Temple University. He was assisted in the data analysis by his wife, Françoise R. Friedlaender, an independent researcher. Other participants included scientists in the islands and at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation in Marshfield, Wis.
“Our analysis,” the scientists wrote, “indicates the ancestors of Polynesians moved through Melanesia relatively rapidly and only intermixed to a very modest degree with the indigenous populations there.”
Dr. Friedlaender of Temple said in an interview that the evidence was “substantial” and “solves a number of issues about the migration and settlement of Pacific people.”
In particular, he and other anthropologists not involved in the study said, the genetic research supported the “fast train” hypothesis.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
 |
Genetic Genealogy  |
| Send FReepmail if you want on/off GGP list Marty = Paternal Haplogroup O(2?)(M175) Maternal Haplogroup H |
|
| GG LINKS: African Ancestry DNAPrint Genomics FamilyTree DNA mitosearch Nat'l Geographic Genographic Project Oxford Ancestors RelativeGenetics Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation Trace Genetics ybase ysearch |
|
| The List of Ping Lists | |
ooooh, nice graphic. A little jealous.
We already knew that the Polynesians and Micronesians were most closely related to Taiwan Aborigines and East Asians. The question is where the Melanesians came from?
I like that version better. Thanks.
Does this mean that China mainland is a province of Taiwan?
Thanks for the photo of post 19 of the young blond Melanisian girl.
It conclusively proves that Bill Clinton visited the islands circa 1995-98 on a goodwill trip to dispense lip balm.
Melanesian - interesting features.
I read that somewhere before.
The native Taiwanese don’t look like Chinese people.
Don’t know if any are left there now.
Always thought Polynesian women were some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.
I have seen pictures of the Taiwanese and they look taller and different from the Ainu people.
Easter Island statues?
A couple years ago I was watching a NG special about the ritual male New Guinean boys go through to enter manhood. They build a tall tower and jump off with a vine attached to their leg and stop just before hitting the ground.
Anyway, when the cameraman went up onto the tower to show the view looking down, he showed a crowd of black people below awaiting the ceremomies. I was amazed at the number of red-headed people in that crowd.
Looks like Dennis Rodman!
chachapoya:
As mentioned in the genetic evidence, the male Y chromosome shows that the most recent common ancestor Polynesians had with Melanesians was 11,500 years ago, this was the time of the flooding of the Sunda platform.
It is highly likely that when this contact occured, Melanesians wern't even living in Melanesia. Genetics also shows that 6,000 years ago, the Polynesians separated from the great East China civilization which gave rise to Tibetans, Thais, Taiwanese, Tlingit, Haida, Pima and Maya.
This was a time of another cataclysmic rise in sea level during the final warming period, and ending of the last Ice Age, flooding areas such as the Taiwan Banks.
Furthermore, genetics indicates that Polynesians did not arrive in the Central Pacific until 2,200 years ago. Genetic evidence also shows that Eastern Polynesia developed in isolation from the Melanesians.
Admixture with Melanesians in Tonga and Samoa has only occurred within the last 1,000 years. So why bother looking towards Melanesia for the origins of Polynesians?
As geneticist SW Serjeantson comments; "It seems quite implausible that a group supposedly evolving within Melanesia could have acquired, by chance, so many non-Melanesian genes!"
This is one of the most bizzarre scientific conundrums I have ever come across. I was led to believe scientists were logical thinking intelligent people. Experience in the Lapita arena does not support this view.
Amongst the Archaeologists, which can be given credit for: tentatively holding on to the truth are Matthew Spriggs and Anita Smith.
"Two years ago, Gonzalez announced one particularly well-preserved skull, from a young woman in her 20s, had been found to be 12,700 years old. It was an important discovery, making the specimen, dubbed Penon Woman, the oldest American ever found and carbon dated."
This week, Gonzalez had another scientific "bomb" to share: Penon Woman was originally an Australian.
Mummy Mask - Peru
Oceana - (lost the link.)
Enigmatic profile? Rock carving New Zealand.
Rockart - New Zealand.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/FredNerks/17RapaNui_beachfront_statues.jpg
Easter Island
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/FredNerks/tikiAustralIslands.jpg
Austral Islands
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/FredNerks/TaracoPeru.jpg
Taraco - Peru
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/FredNerks/atPuamauonHivaOa.jpg
Hiva Oa
A koala bear? LOL!
so, where did the Australian aboriginal people come from? That's simply another mystery to us. Scattered all over the continent, great differences in appearance, their art varies tremendously, as did their languages.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
