Page 99 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

I and J is in Europe. In East Asia, haplogroups N and O which come from K are the most
commonly found. Another important haplogroup is Q in northeastern Asia and America,
as well as R whose phylogenetic distribution covers North Africa, West Asia, and Europe
(Underhill and Kivisild, 2007).
The genetic traces of Y-chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA of the present day
Indonesian people can also be used to identify their ancestors, and to trace the place and
times of their early migrations. The evidence takes us back to Africa, at around 70,000
years ago. After being settled there for tens of thousands of years or maybe more, they
began leaving Africa. This movement is referred to as Out of Africa. We do not know the
reasons that led to this migration. There is some difference of opinion on the dates and
numbers of these migrations. For example, geneticist from the University of Oxford,
Stephen Oppenheimer believes the migration from Africa occurred in several waves. He
suggests that the first phase happened even earlier, at around 120,000 years ago followed
by another migration around 71,000 years ago (Lahr and Foley, 1998, Underhill et al., 2001).
Mitochondrial DNA analysis of female ancestors shows haplogroup M was the first
group which arrived in Indonesia. Meanwhile the Y-chromosomes of the male ancestors
suggest that the first group which migrated and arrived in Indonesia was haplogroup F.
The groups that left Africa could have had no knowledge of the geography of the earth
or have had their descendants’ final destination in mind. They most likely moved when
their present conditions were inhospitable enough for the risk involved in trying to find
somewhere better. The early phases of migration were all from west to east. This follows
the warm line of the sun’s rotation. It led them along the coastal route of South Asia and
onwards to Southeast Asia and eventually to Australia. Traces of these early modern
humans have been found in Southeast Asia, dated about 50,000 years ago and in Australia
dated about 46,000 years ago. Australia had never been occupied by the archaic human,
Homo erectus.
For at least 40,000 years, these early modern humans which we refer to as Australoid
were settling in Southeast Asia including across the Indonesian archipelago. They remained
the only humans in the region until the next major migration wave which occurred around
4,000 to 5,000 years ago. This new group were the Austronesians. Their ancestral homeland
was in Taiwan. They spoke a proto- version of present day Austronesian languages. They
brought with them a culture which included mastery of metal processing, sailing and
seafaring, and agriculture. This event has been called out of Taiwan. Around the time
the Austronesians arrived in the Indonesian archipelago, their predecessors, who spoke

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