Polynesian and South American people met, interbred many centuries ago
People 6,800 kilometres away by sea share DNA, showing interbreeding 800 years ago
New genetic research shows that there was mingling between ancient Indigenous peoples from Polynesia and South America, revealing a single episode of interbreeding roughly 800 years ago after an epic transoceanic journey.
The question of such contact — which was long hypothesized, in part based on the enduring presence in Polynesia of a staple food in the form of the sweet potato that originated in South and Central America — had been keenly debated among scientists.
Scientists said on Wednesday an examination of DNA from 807 people — from 14 Polynesian islands and Pacific coastal Indigenous populations from Mexico to Chile — definitively resolved the matter.
Thomson Reuters · Posted: Jul 09, 2020 7:41 AM ET | Last Updated: 4 hours ago
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