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New evidence found by scientists has started to suggest that the people living on the islands of Melanesia could have human DNA the world has never seen. The theory is that the DNA does not come from a Neanderthal or Denisovan (which are the two ancient species we most closely relate humans with). Scientists believe that they come from a new undiscovered species that derived from the South Pacific, northeast of Austrailia.

Analysis of the oldest-known cemetery in the South Pacific may help resolve a longstanding debate over the origins and ancestry of Polynesians. Modern-day Polynesians bear strong cultural and linguistic similarities to the ancient people associated with the Lapita Culture who settled on Vanuatu more than 3,000 years ago. However, the origin of the Lapita people remains debated, with recent biological studies suggesting that the group may be of mixed ancestry with a strong contribution from Melanesian populations, who were already established on islands to the west near New Guinea. Frederique Valentin, Matthew Spriggs, and colleagues conducted morphological analyses involving craniometric...

The ancestral relationships of people living in the widely scattered islands of the Pacific Ocean, long a puzzle to anthropologists, may have been solved by a new genetic study, researchers reported Thursday.In an analysis of the DNA of 1,000 individuals from 41 Pacific populations, an international team of scientists found strong evidence showing that Polynesians and Micronesians in the central and eastern islands had almost no genetic relationship to Melanesians, in the western islands like Papua New Guinea and the Bismarck and Solomons archipelagos.The researchers also concluded that the genetic data showed that the Polynesians and Micronesians were most closely...

Contact: Preston M. Moretz pmoretz@temple.edu 215-204-7476 Temple University New DNA study helps explain unique diversity among Melanesians Small populations of Melanesians — among the most genetically diverse people on the planet — have significant differences in their mitochondrial DNA that can be linked to where they live, the size of their home island and the language they speak, according to a study being published in the new online journal, Public Library of Science ONE (http://www.plosone.org). The study, "Melanesian mtDNA complexity," was lead by Jonathan Friedlaender, emeritus professor of anthropology at Temple University. The study appears in the Feb. 28 issue....