Prehistoric Polynesian Connection with
South America
Information compiled by: Chris Currier
Introduction:
It has been suggested that the colonization of the extremes of the Polynesian Triangle, specifically the settlement of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and New Zealand, occurred as late as 1200AD. These dates provide some indication of the periods during which there might have been contact with South America (Hunt & Lipo 2006). The issue of prehistoric Trans-Pacific voyages by the Polynesians to the Americas has been a debate since the beginning of the 20th century. Through skeletal remains from Mocha Island; is there evidence to support the claim, Polynesians did reach South America over 600 years ago?
Research Questions:
Is there evidence in the skeletal collection from Mocha Island to support a Polynesian lineage?
Could the same Polynesians that settled Rapa Nui, also reached Mocha Island and the coast of
South America?
Location:
-Chile is located on the western side of South America, and Mocha Island is located 35 km off Central Chile.
-Rapa Nui is 489 miles west of Mocha Island.
-Concepcion Museum, Chile. Skeletal material recovered was from a wide range of contexts, from chance finds made by locals to material recovered during archaeological excavations on the island (Smith, 2010).
Proposed Analysis:
In 2007 twenty-seven boxes of human remains from Mocha Island were recovered in the Concepcion Museum, Chile. The material was from a wide range of contexts; from chance finds made by locals to material recovered during archaeological excavations on the island (Smith, 2010)
Computer voyaging simulations conducted by a number of researchers in the 1990s demonstrated that voyaging from Polynesia to the Americas was feasible and during an El Nino event such a trip could be much faster (Irwin, 1990:Finney, 1994)
A study of genome-wide SNP data from modern people in Oceania confirmed archaeological predictions that Polynesians, who are distributed across a triangle of islands in the South Pacific that is bounded by Rapa Nui to the east, represent an expansion into Oceania of individuals with mixed Melanesian and East Asian ancestry (Nielsen, 2017)
Map of the Polynesian Triangle
The Polynesian triangle extends between Hawaii to the north, Rapa Nui to the south-west , and New Zealand to the east.
Map of Chile with Mapuche region identified.
Methods:
Of the twenty-seven boxes recovered from Concepcion Museum, measurements were taken on six complete adult crania from Mocha Island (Smith, 2010).
Values for the 29 standard craniometric measurements taken on the six
complete adult crania from Mocha Island (Smith, 2010)
Box 10 material:
a) posterior view of cranium: b) lateral view of mandible: c) head of the femur showing oval fovea capitis from box 10 (on right), compared with fovea of box 11 femur.
Box 11 material
a) posterior view of cranium; b) lateral view of mandible.
Box 13 material
a) posterior view of cranium; b) lateral view of mandible
More convincing are the results of a genome-wide study of the modern-day inhabitants of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), which provided statistical support for Native American admixture that can be dated to 1280-1495, several hundred years before Europeans reached the islands in 1722 (Nielsen, 2017).
This does support the idea of Polynesians reaching and inhabiting the eastern corner of the Polynesian triangle Rapa Nui. During the same time period as the skeletal remains from Mocha Island were dated to be.
Methods (cont.)
Box 10 included a complete cranium, with some post- cranial material that was recovered from excavations of Parcela 5-1, located on the northeast coast of Mocha. Con- stantinescu (1997) describes the material as female aged 20–25 years. She noted that it appears to have ‘Mongoloid’ characteristics and also recorded flattening on the le side of the skull possibly associated with cradle board deformation. We noted that the cranium was distinctly pentagonal in shape when viewed from behind (Fig. a), and that the mandible was of the rocker form (Fig. b). The head of the femur possessed an oval shaped fovea capitis (on the right of Fig. c), and the articular surfaces were particularly robust for a female femur. The material is associated with dates from the El Vergel period (1000–1500 AD) of Southern Chilean prehistory (Constantinescu 1997).
Box 11 contained material identified by documentation in the box as belonging to individual 10 recovered from Parcela 10-1 and were apparently found with cultural material belonging to the Pitren complex of Southern Chilean prehistory (Early Ceramic Period: 400–1100 AD). The box included a complete male cranium, mandible and portions of the post-cranial skeleton including vertebrae, a proximal femur and a complete pelvis. All of the material was particularly robust, but this individual also showed signs of anaemia (cribra orbitalia), generalised infection in the maxillary region and had severe osteoarthritis in the vertebral column, particularly in the lumbar region. The cranium was pentagonal in shape (Fig. a), the fovea capitis was round (see Fig. c, le side) and though the mandible was not of clear rocker form, it did have a broad and vertical ramus (Fig. b). The posterior portion of the cranium appeared to be artificially flattened on the right side, which was also recorded by Constantinescu (1997) who determined the remains belonged to a ‘Mongoloid’ male, aged between 40 and 45 years who stood 1.73 meters tall.
Box 13, also from Parcela 10-1, was recovered from the same multiple burial as the individual in Box 11, which included at least 3 adults and 6 children. Box 13 contained a cranium, mandible and most of the postcranial skeleton except for a missing left femur. The cranium was pentagonal in shape (Fig. a), showed flattening on the right posterior portion, and the mandible was not of the rocker form but like the mandible from box 11 was very robust and had a broad, vertical ramus (Fig.b) The fovea capitis of the right femur was round in shape. Constantinescu (1997) described that material as coming from a 35 year old male with an estimated stature of 1.63 meters. (Smith, 2010)
A skattergram showing the estimated canonical
variate scores for the six complete crania analyzed from Isla Mocha is shown in the LDA and NNDA results used 100% of the variance in the 29 dimensional canonical variate space, the scattergram uses only the first two canonical variates. These account for 36.2% of the variance (R. Wright, unpublished report provided to the authors). As can be seen, the crania fall into two clusters. Crania from boxes 5, 18 and 24 cluster with American samples while those from boxes 10, 11 and 13 fall with Pacific and East Asian populations (Smith, 2010)
Scatterplot diagram of the six crania from Mocha Island compared to the CRANID database, plotted in the space of the first canonical variates (discriminant functions). (Smith, 2010)
Discussion:
The skulls that Matisoo-Smith examined in Concepcion provide intriguing hints of Polynesian ancestry. Given that most prehistoric voyagers were likely male, scientist say they need uncontaminated nuclear DNA from an archaeological site in order to pinpoint the Y-chromosomes of a Polynesian. Mocha so far is the best candidate for such evidence and for signs of Polynesian settlement of the continent (Lawler, 2010).
Three of the six crania from box 10, 11, and 13, fall with Pacific and East Asian populations (Smith, 2010)
There is some evidence to support the claim Polynesians did reach Mocha Island.
Of the six crania examined 5, 18 and 24 cluster with American samples, suggesting contact with the mainland of South America.
With the genome study on Rapa Nui showing Native American admixture from the same time frame as the Mocha Island collection, this does support the idea of oceanic voyages from Rapa Nui and South America.
Work Cited:
Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith & Jose-Miguel Ramirez (2010)
Human Skeletal Evidence of Polynesian Presence in South America? Metric Analyses of Six Crania from Mocha Island, Chile
Journal of Pacific Archaeology
Lawler, Andrew (2010), Northern Exposure in Doubt
Science vol. 328
Rasmus Nielsen, Joshua Akey, Mattias Jakobsson, Jonathan Pritchard, Sarah Tishkoff, and Eske Willerslev (2010)
Tracing the peopling of the world through genomics