Back to Search Start Over

Genomic insights into the peopling of the Southwest Pacific.

Authors :
Skoglund P
Posth C
Sirak K
Spriggs M
Valentin F
Bedford S
Clark GR
Reepmeyer C
Petchey F
Fernandes D
Fu Q
Harney E
Lipson M
Mallick S
Novak M
Rohland N
Stewardson K
Abdullah S
Cox MP
Friedlaender FR
Friedlaender JS
Kivisild T
Koki G
Kusuma P
Merriwether DA
Ricaut FX
Wee JT
Patterson N
Krause J
Pinhasi R
Reich D
Source :
Nature [Nature] 2016 Oct 27; Vol. 538 (7626), pp. 510-513. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Oct 03.
Publication Year :
2016

Abstract

The appearance of people associated with the Lapita culture in the South Pacific around 3,000 years ago marked the beginning of the last major human dispersal to unpopulated lands. However, the relationship of these pioneers to the long-established Papuan people of the New Guinea region is unclear. Here we present genome-wide ancient DNA data from three individuals from Vanuatu (about 3,100-2,700 years before present) and one from Tonga (about 2,700-2,300 years before present), and analyse them with data from 778 present-day East Asians and Oceanians. Today, indigenous people of the South Pacific harbour a mixture of ancestry from Papuans and a population of East Asian origin that no longer exists in unmixed form, but is a match to the ancient individuals. Most analyses have interpreted the minimum of twenty-five per cent Papuan ancestry in the region today as evidence that the first humans to reach Remote Oceania, including Polynesia, were derived from population mixtures near New Guinea, before their further expansion into Remote Oceania. However, our finding that the ancient individuals had little to no Papuan ancestry implies that later human population movements spread Papuan ancestry through the South Pacific after the first peopling of the islands.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1476-4687
Volume :
538
Issue :
7626
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Nature
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
27698418
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19844