If this is possible, is it possible that people got to the Americas by sea routes as opposed to crossing the Bering strait?
Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement
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Re: Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement
#22I would not be surprised if this genetic research sheds light on other contacts we didn't think possible. To name a few:
-Egypt/Africa in trade contact with South America (cocaine was found in mummies, still controversial as to how it got there).
-The Rumor that Chinese fleets made it to the west coast of the US (Chinese rock anchors found off the CA coast)
-The fact that Vikings made it further and further south of Greenland then we realized.
-The rumor that Maori DNA has been found in South America
-The legend King Madac, a Welsh king, making it to North America and that certain native tribes could speak Welsh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_co...
Re: Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement
#23If this is possible, is it possible that people got to the Americas by sea routes as opposed to crossing the Bering strait?
It is well supported at this point that, in addition to the Bering land bridge, the ancestors of many Native Americans followed a coastal sea route from northeast Asia to the Americas.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-humans-cam...
Re: Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement
#24If this is possible, is it possible that people got to the Americas by sea routes as opposed to crossing the Bering strait?
It's possible, but in addition to the Bering strait, not instead. The Bering was crossed as many as 19,000 years ago, and some theorize an earlier wave of > 40,000 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlement_of_the_Americas#Chr...
The claims for more recent trans-oceanic contact across the Pacific are about much more recent times, mostly the last 1000 years (which is when eastern Polynesia was settled), and none are widely accepted except for continuing traffic with Siberia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_co...
With the vast spans of time involved, mostly pre-literate cultures in both South America and Polynesia, and the loss of both historical knowledge and genetic diversity following European conquest, it's very hard to argue that there definitely wasn't some more recent contact; but it does not seem to have left strong genetic or linguistic signatures.
Re: Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement
#25I would not be surprised if this genetic research sheds light on other contacts we didn't think possible. To name a few: -Egypt/Africa in trade contact with South America (cocaine was found in mummies, still controversial as to how it got there). -The Rumor that Chinese fleets made it to the west coast of the US (Chinese rock anchors found off the CA coast) -The fact that Vikings made it further and further south of…
> The Rumor that Chinese fleets made it to the west coast of the US (Chinese rock anchors found off the CA coast)
At least for this particular one, it seems more likely it was chinese laborers from 100+ years ago that fished in the area.
Re: Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement
#26I would not be surprised if this genetic research sheds light on other contacts we didn't think possible. To name a few: -Egypt/Africa in trade contact with South America (cocaine was found in mummies, still controversial as to how it got there). -The Rumor that Chinese fleets made it to the west coast of the US (Chinese rock anchors found off the CA coast) -The fact that Vikings made it further and further south of…
What I have never seen mention of but I assume took place was near constant contact between Asia and the Americas across the bearing straight. You can literally see land across it. It’s close enough you can paddle across it in a day, and there is a set of islands in the middle to rest on.
Re: Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement
#27It is also possible that a fisherman from South America got stuck in ocean currents and went to Easter island instead. This is simpler than making it to South America and then back to Easter island. There are ocean currents in the SE Pacific that can take a boat from the shore into deep in the Pacific. If there was an Easter Island seafarer that went from Easter island to South America and back, then they would have…
This is similar to the Kon-Tiki theory that Thor Heyerdahl popularized, but has since been heavily criticized. Largely it implies that these people weren’t capable or skilled enough to make these voyages, that it happened by accident, and certainly has some racist undertones dismissing native Polynesian people’s knowledge and skills. I spent some time as a teenager on a cultural exchange with a group of native Hawaii…
I've heard this described as why would they have stopped exploring and colonizing. So it makes a lot of sense that they would have continued looking for any habitable island or land.
On the other side of the pacific, Hawaiian oral stories have some indication that they reached Central America from the islands. Referring to the place they found as a land of frogs.
Re: Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement
#28It is also possible that a fisherman from South America got stuck in ocean currents and went to Easter island instead. This is simpler than making it to South America and then back to Easter island. There are ocean currents in the SE Pacific that can take a boat from the shore into deep in the Pacific. If there was an Easter Island seafarer that went from Easter island to South America and back, then they would have…
The paper resolves the controversy with the Easter Island (Rapa Nui) population. After colonization, the population from Chile mixed with the population from Rapa Nui. This paper conclusively shows that a 1200 AD (i.e. pre-colonization) event occurred on one of the eastern Polynesian islands before Polynesians settled Easter Island. The "hub" island radiation starts in the natural east-to-west currents. The Rapa Nui…
This last is worth expanding on. Mauricio Obregon in "Beyond the Edge of the Sea" says that the usual way of exploration on the high sea, seeking an island that may or may not be there, is to wait for a wind contrary to the prevailing wind. Then, if you don't find one, the wind will soon turn and carry you home.