Page 73 - Hawaii: Diving, Surfing, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes and More

he path of the Lapita is marked by pot- along on voyages as a food source. the Pacific, suggests common ancestry of
T tery with distinct geometric designs research subjects despite their East-West
found in more than 200 South Pacific loca- he Polynesian peoples themselves Pacific divide. For example, the presence of
tions, from Papua New Guinea to Samoa. T provide clues to their prehistoric similar genetic mutations in Hawaiians and
The similarity in iconography is unlikely to origins via DNA testing. A study identi- Samoans suggests common family lineages
be coincidental, especially if it had religious fied three distinct gene clusters shared by in two geographically distant places. Poly-
significance, because this suggests a coher- most Polynesians. The researchers used nesians are descended from Melanesians
ent belief system that may have spread as blood samples of subjects from a variety and more distantly from Southeast Asians.
a whole. Cultural similarities, such as the of ethnicities, including Hawaiian, Samoan,
presence of outriggers on canoes from New Tongan, Micronesian, Indonesian, Ma- plethora of evidence, ranging from
Zealand to Melanesia to the Society Ar- lay, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Cambodian, A geologic sourcing to archaeological
chipelago, also point to a shared ancestry. Burmese, Hmong, Aborigine and Papua records, from DNA sequencing to cultural
People across the Pacific also speak similar New Guinea. The group found common and linguistic similarities, supports the
Austronesian languages. The similarities genetic mutations among about 30-40% of theory of west-to-east migration across the
observed in Polynesian peoples across East Asians and nearly all Polynesians and Pacific. This was believed to occur over cen-
the Pacific, including building styles and many Hawaiians studied. The researchers turies, among a seafaring people known for
language, suggest common ancestry. Bio- grouped subjects’ DNA into three major their exploration and skilled knowledge of
logical researchers have been able to link lineage clusters. The first subjects are from their oceanic environment. The similarities
settlements through the remains of animals Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and Micronesia; the among Melanesians, Asians and Polynesians
introduced by voyagers, particularly the second are from Hawaii and Samoa; and in their culture and shared archaeological
Polynesian rat. The rat, which cannot swim the third are from French Polynesia, with record are quite conclusive.
and cannot disperse to islands without the one Samoan subject sharing similar DNA.
help of humans, was believed to be brought The common DNA, which is spread across