Genetic study reveals surprising origin of Native Hawaiians
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2026/10/hawaiian-genetics.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.zipSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on lemmy.ziphttps://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2026/10/hawaiian-genetics.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.zip
15 replies
Thanks fir the TLDR
They found that Hawaiians share the most Polynesian ancestry with people on Easter Island, followed by people on Mangareva, an island nearly 3,000 kilometers west of Easter Island. Though no one had connected these distant dots previously, it makes sense that an ultravoyaging culture capable of reaching Easter Island from Mangareva would be the one to then settle Hawaii, Ioannidis said. (An earlier study by the researchers found that members of the same ultravoyaging population also reached South America and came in contact with Native Americans.)
The team also conducted a more detailed genomic analysis of people from Tahiti, the island for which they had the most genomes. By comparing identity-by-descent segments within the population, they could estimate the size and date of the founding generation — a group of approximately 800 people who arrived on the island about 34 generations ago, around the year 1070. (The population estimate is of a single generation of reproductive age and doesn’t include children and elders they may have brought along.)
I don’t know why this would be surprising to anyone that’s watched Moana
Imagine traveling that far over open ocean on homemade catamarans. That's wild to me. I love learning about ancient people just for the obstacles they overcame.
I live on O’ahu. We recently observed the 50th anniversary of the first voyage of Hokule’ia which is the first voyaging canoe built and navigated in the traditional ways, which was sailed from O’ahu to Tahiti and is still active, currently on a worldwide voyage. My kids got to go on board when it was docked as part of their school and there’s been lots of stuff available here about traditional navigation. It’s all truly amazing stuff. I chaperoned a field trip last year where we got to sit with one of the former crew members and it was like meeting an astronaut. Their descriptions of being in the middle of the ocean among the stars on that traditional ship is just breathtaking.
That's awesome. I'm jealous.
"Homemade" is doing a lot of work there, I'd bet for ultra voyagers they had master boat builders (for their time and with their materials) that were prized for the quality and strength of builds
Yeah, but it's not like they went to the boat dealership and bought a boat.
We don’t know they didn’t.
And your only map is a stick chart
And that only covers known waters
Polynesians were master mariners. Even European explorers were impressed by their knowledge of the sea.
So the thing with exploration is that an overland journey is just as dangerous as long distance sailing. Both have hazards like weather, plants and animals, terrain/waves, the need for shelter/clothing to protect against the elements, and a need to source food and water locally along the way. Seafaring cultures know where food is and isn't just like how land based explorers know. Expanses of open ocean without fish or rain water is like crossing the desert. Plus the seafaring people know how to build ships that can handle the ocean, so sinking isn't a real danger.
Both had their share of losses as they explored new areas, but guidance by the stars and guidance by landmarks is comparable and they just needed to share knowledge.
I'm not trying to minimize seafaring cutltures, just pointing out that is has different challenges and not necessarily harder challenges than the comparably dangerous overland exploration. Both are very impressive in different ways!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austronesian_peoples
A somehow related Wikipedia article worth reading. Whether such singular “people” is an idea or a fact is still up for debate.
Ok, but c'mon. You'd think layouting is solved by now.