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New insights on origin of Polynesians
Popular Archaeology ^
| Monday, December 28, 2015
| Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Posted on 12/28/2015 10:31:20 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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 measurements of skeletons from a roughly 3,000-year-old cemetery at Teouma on the south coast of Vanuatuâs Efate Island. Measurements were taken on five ca. 3,000 to 2,850-year-old skulls recovered from the Teouma site and 270 more skulls from Australia, Melanesia, Western Micronesia, Polynesia, and China. They found that early Lapita remains comport with present-day Polynesian and Asian populations. Later generations, by contrast, begin to exhibit characteristics associated with a Melanesian phenotype.
(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...
TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; australia; efateisland; frederiquevalentin; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; lapita; matthewspriggs; melanesians; newguinea; polynesians; teouma; vanuatu
The Lapita are perhaps best known for their distinctive pottery, an example of which is shown here. Torbenbrinker, Wikimedia Commons
1
posted on
12/28/2015 10:31:20 PM PST
by
SunkenCiv
To: SunkenCiv
I always get the Phoneticians and the Polynesians mixed up
2
posted on
12/29/2015 12:17:17 AM PST
by
GraceG
(Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
To: SunkenCiv
3
posted on
12/29/2015 12:31:56 AM PST
by
LadyDoc
(liberals only love politically correct poor people)
To: GraceG
The ‘Phoneticians’ invented the Art of Spelling.
4
posted on
12/29/2015 12:35:52 AM PST
by
Radix
("..Democrats are holding a meeting today to decide whether to overturn the results of the election.")
To: GraceG
5
posted on
12/29/2015 12:57:11 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
To: LadyDoc
6
posted on
12/29/2015 12:57:18 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
To: SunkenCiv
I'm good where ever they came from..
7
posted on
12/29/2015 2:09:10 AM PST
by
maddog55
(America Rising a new Civil War needs to happen.)
To: GraceG
Phoneticans know their ABC’s.
8
posted on
12/29/2015 2:47:16 AM PST
by
Jimmy Valentine
(DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dream)
To: maddog55
Polynesia seems like a great place to pick up a case of mononesia.
9
posted on
12/29/2015 4:52:08 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...
10
posted on
12/29/2015 4:53:25 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
(Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
To: GraceG; SunkenCiv
"I always get the Phoneticians and the Polynesians mixed up." Polynesians are beautiful seafaring many-island dwelling people who love the color purple:
By sharp contrast, Phoenicians (who were also really good with phonetics) were sea-faring many-island dwelling people who loved the color purple:
11
posted on
12/29/2015 5:29:19 AM PST
by
BroJoeK
(a little historical perspective...)
To: GraceG
I also confuse Melanesians with that poisonous stuff the chinese put in food, melamine.
12
posted on
12/29/2015 6:01:48 AM PST
by
T-Bone Texan
(The economic collapse is imminent. Buy staple food and OTC meds now, before prices skyrocket.)
To: BroJoeK
The actor Nicholas Cage fell in love with a Hoosier Malarian and was jilted. He went berzerk and almost destroyed little Circle City.
13
posted on
12/29/2015 2:47:36 PM PST
by
tumblindice
(America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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