Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement

Alexander G. Ioannidis (), Javier Blanco-Portillo, Karla Sandoval, Erika Hagelberg, Juan Francisco Miquel-Poblete, J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar, Juan Esteban Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Consuelo D. Quinto-Cortés, Kathryn Auckland, Tom Parks, Kathryn Robson, Adrian V. S. Hill, María C. Avila-Arcos, Alexandra Sockell, Julian R. Homburger, Genevieve L. Wojcik, Kathleen C. Barnes, Luisa Herrera, Soledad Berríos, Mónica Acuña, Elena Llop, Celeste Eng, Scott Huntsman, Esteban G. Burchard, Christopher R. Gignoux, Lucía Cifuentes, Ricardo A. Verdugo, Mauricio Moraga, Alexander J. Mentzer, Carlos D. Bustamante and Andrés Moreno-Estrada ()
Additional contact information
Alexander G. Ioannidis: Stanford University
Javier Blanco-Portillo: National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO), Unit of Advanced Genomics, CINVESTAV
Karla Sandoval: National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO), Unit of Advanced Genomics, CINVESTAV
Erika Hagelberg: University of Oslo
Juan Francisco Miquel-Poblete: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar: National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN)
Juan Esteban Rodríguez-Rodríguez: National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO), Unit of Advanced Genomics, CINVESTAV
Consuelo D. Quinto-Cortés: National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO), Unit of Advanced Genomics, CINVESTAV
Kathryn Auckland: University of Oxford
Tom Parks: University of Oxford
Kathryn Robson: University of Oxford
Adrian V. S. Hill: University of Oxford
María C. Avila-Arcos: International Laboratory for Human Genome Research (LIIGH), UNAM Juriquilla
Alexandra Sockell: Stanford University
Julian R. Homburger: Stanford University
Genevieve L. Wojcik: Stanford University
Kathleen C. Barnes: University of Colorado
Luisa Herrera: University of Chile
Soledad Berríos: University of Chile
Mónica Acuña: University of Chile
Elena Llop: University of Chile
Celeste Eng: University of California San Francisco
Scott Huntsman: University of California San Francisco
Esteban G. Burchard: University of California San Francisco
Christopher R. Gignoux: University of Colorado
Lucía Cifuentes: University of Chile
Ricardo A. Verdugo: University of Chile
Mauricio Moraga: University of Chile
Alexander J. Mentzer: University of Oxford
Carlos D. Bustamante: Stanford University
Andrés Moreno-Estrada: National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO), Unit of Advanced Genomics, CINVESTAV

Nature, 2020, vol. 583, issue 7817, 572-577

Abstract: Abstract The possibility of voyaging contact between prehistoric Polynesian and Native American populations has long intrigued researchers. Proponents have pointed to the existence of New World crops, such as the sweet potato and bottle gourd, in the Polynesian archaeological record, but nowhere else outside the pre-Columbian Americas1–6, while critics have argued that these botanical dispersals need not have been human mediated7. The Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl controversially suggested that prehistoric South American populations had an important role in the settlement of east Polynesia and particularly of Easter Island (Rapa Nui)2. Several limited molecular genetic studies have reached opposing conclusions, and the possibility continues to be as hotly contested today as it was when first suggested8–12. Here we analyse genome-wide variation in individuals from islands across Polynesia for signs of Native American admixture, analysing 807 individuals from 17 island populations and 15 Pacific coast Native American groups. We find conclusive evidence for prehistoric contact of Polynesian individuals with Native American individuals (around ad 1200) contemporaneous with the settlement of remote Oceania13–15. Our analyses suggest strongly that a single contact event occurred in eastern Polynesia, before the settlement of Rapa Nui, between Polynesian individuals and a Native American group most closely related to the indigenous inhabitants of present-day Colombia.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2487-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:583:y:2020:i:7817:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2487-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2487-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().