Paths and timings of the peopling of Polynesia inferred from genomic networks.

ABSTRACT: Polynesia was settled in a series of extraordinary voyages across an ocean spanning one third of the Earth¹, but the sequences of islands settled remain unknown and their timings disputed. Currently, several centuries separate the dates suggested by different archaeological surveys^2-4. Here, using genome-wide data from merely 430 modern individuals from 21 key Pacific island populations and novel ancestry-specific computational analyses, we unravel the detailed genetic history of this vast, dispersed island network. Our reconstruction of the branching Polynesian migration sequence reveals a serial founder expansion, characterized by directional loss of variants, that originated in Samoa and spread first through the Cook Islands (Rarotonga), then to the Society (Tōtaie

SUBMITTER: Ioannidis AG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9710236 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature