
Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement - Thevet
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2487-2
======
sradman
Yesterday’s HN thread on the NYTimes article covering the same Nature paper -
_Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 years ago_ :

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23771756](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23771756)

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dmos62
> 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.

~~~
bencollier49
"contact event"

~~~
kairumination0
About as understated as 2 faint lines crossing on graph paper lol

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EdwardDiego
I'd be highly unsurprised that Polynesians and pre-Columbus Americans met,
it's about the same distance from the Marquesas to Hawaii as from Easter
Island to Chile, and it's 1.5x further from the Marquesas to New Zealand.

While the paper is about the admixture predating settlement of Rapanui, it's
quite possible it was known of beforehand.

~~~
chewz
> it's about the same distance

Distance does not matter at sea so much as prevailing conditions (winds,
current) and available marine technology..

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noetic_techy
I 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...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-
oceanic_contact_theories)

~~~
Retric
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.

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aritmo
It 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 a very good standing in the community.
His guests would leave a bigger genetic mark in the community.

~~~
sradman
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 admixture is from Chile but
the pre-colonization admixture is from Columbia and it is found throughout
eastern Polynesia along with the South American sweet potato.

It is not known whether Polynesians sailed to Columbia/Ecuador and back or if
South American natives sailed to Polynesia. A fisherman blown off course
doesn't fit with the spread of the sweet potato and gourds, but who knows. The
there-and-back-again narrative fits the Polynesian practice of exploring
upwind/up-current and allowing the wind/current to help you get back. I use
the same safety technique when canoeing and diving.

~~~
ncmncm
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.

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briga
If this is possible, is it possible that people got to the Americas by sea
routes as opposed to crossing the Bering strait?

~~~
danarmak
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...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlement_of_the_Americas#Chronology)

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...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-
oceanic_contact_theories#Claims_of_Polynesian_contact)

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.

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ncmncm
Paywalled. No matter, [http://sci-hub/10.1038/s41586-020-2487-2](http://sci-
hub/10.1038/s41586-020-2487-2)

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AbrahamParangi
My limited understanding is that the genomics community thinks the authors are
full of it. Given that the lead author is Ioannidis, I'm sure that's the case.

~~~
lsiebert
Nature is peer reviewed right? Who in the genomics community is saying that
this is BS?

