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speaking people as well as non-Austronesian or Papuan-speaking people. Mona et al.
(2007) studied populations from seven islands in East Nusa Tenggara (Adonara, Alor,
Lembata, Flores, Solor, Pantar) and Timor Leste. Some of the villages in the study are
part of the Central Malayo Polynesian language family but others belong to the Trans New
Guinea language family. Linguistic and archaeological data indicate the presence of at
least two migration waves influencing this eastern part area of Indonesia. Archaeological
findings of modern humans living around 30,000 to 37,000 years ago (O’Connor et al.,
2002) were found in Timor Leste and also in north Moluccas (Bellwood, 1996). The age
of the relatively new artifacts found in Flores was estimated at around 4,500-3,800 years
ago. Artifacts of a similar age were found in Timor Leste dated at around 4,400-3,400 years
old. Both were connected with the distribution of farmers and Austronesian-speaking
people during the Neolithic era (Bellwood, 1997) and are thought to have arrived in eastern
Indonesia via Sulawesi and maybe also the Moluccas rather than from the west through
Java (Spriggs, 2003). The linguistic and archaeological evidence suggests there were two
or more migration waves. It is also possible that there was an influx of Papuan-speaking
people arriving before or around the same time as the Austronesia-speaking population.
The study in East Nusa Tenggara was intended to answer several important questions:
(a) the extent to which the very complex history of eastern Indonesia can be explained
based on the genetic groupings of its residents, (b) what connection between genetics
and language there may be, and (c) what influence the many migration waves had on the
genetic grouping of present day populations.
In connection to the geographical origin and reconstruction of East Nusa Tenggara
human history, 19 mtDNA haplogroups connected to the East Asia source and six
haplogroups connected with a Melanesian origin (Q1, Q2, P1, P1e, P4a and R14) were
found. Haplogroup P1 in eastern Indonesia which was attributed with a Melanesian
origin, had a Time Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) or ancestral age estimated
to be close to 53,814 years ago, which is older than the haplogroup age of ancestors in
Melanesia (46,160 years ago). Haplogroup Q1 and Q2 were initially thought to come
from Melanesia, but the data pointed to the source being from eastern Indonesia. The
most convincing data was mtDNA Q1 with roughly 14.2% frequency and aged 48,089
years ago, notably older than a similar haplogroup found in Melanesia (34,578 years ago).
The estimated ancestor age is possibly a marker for hunter-gatherer populations of the
Pleistocene era who settled in East Nusa Tenggara and the islands of Papua. Likewise
with the mtDNA Q2 which has a higher frequency than Q1, but later divided into two

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