Page 116 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

branches, one was the ancestor of East Nusa Tenggara and the other one was possibly the
ancestor of Australian Aboriginals.
On the other hand, by analyzing 35 binary genetic markers of the Y-chromosome,
14 types of haplogroups were identified. Seven of these were from Melanesia based
on previous studies (C-M38*, C-M208, M-M4*, M-P34, S-M230*, S-M254, and K-M9*),
while the other came from east Asia (O-M122*, O-M134, O-M119, O-M175, NO-M214 dan
C-RPS4Y*). In general, the proportion of Melanesian paternal and maternal inheritance is
63.1% and 20%. This is 60% and 20.5% in the Papuan group and 63.7% and 17.5% in the
Austronesian-speaking group. The proportion frequency varies in different populations. For
example, the frequency of a Melanesian Y-chromosome haplogroup was found to be 45.2%
in the Austronesian-speaking population in Lembata, 100% in Alor, and 84.4% in Adonara.
Meanwhile, the frequency of the mtDNA haplogroup was 0% in non-Austronesian speaking
in Timor Leste and 70% in Austronesian-speaking groups in Pantar. The presence of Asian
and Melanesian haplogroups in the Y-chromosome and mtDNA of East Nusa Tenggara
populations was illustrated in an analysis which was aimed to examine the proximity and
grouping between populations. For the Y-chromosome, East Nusa Tenggara was grouped
with population of the Melanesian islands who spoke Austronesian due to the high
component of Melanesian except in the Pantar population which was grouped together
with the Southeast Asian group due to the high number of Asian haplogroups on them.
Based on the findings of these genetic structure studies, the migration history of
East Nusa Tenggara now appears to be not as simple as expected. This is due to several
components illustrating the contributions of Austronesian-speaking people from east
Asia as well as the non-Austronesian Papuan-speaking populations. It was also found that
the component with ancient migration traces were also found in Australian Aboriginals.
Therefore, genetically, East Nusa Tenggara is something of a melting pot and is an
interesting example of complex genetic admixture occurring over thousands of years.
Other than East Nusa Tenggara, the admixture traces can also be seen on the other
Melanesian area, such as North Moluccas Islands. This area is an important spot of
human journey routes along Indo-Pacific. Archaeological evidence confirms that this
area has been inhabited by humans since 32,500 years ago and which is possibly proof of
the first migration wave Out of Africa (O’Connor et al., 2002). Meanwhile, the arrival of
Austronesian-speaking people in this region was supported by evidence of ceramic artifacts
from 3,500 years ago. Languages can be found in North Moluccas which characterize the
Pleistocene era colonization and the subsequent migration. Geographically, most of the

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