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

Ioannidis, Alexander G.; Blanco-Portillo, Javier; Sandoval, Karla; Hagelberg, Erika; Barberena-Jonas, Carmina; Avs., Hill; Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Juan Esteban; Fox, Keolu; Robson, Kathryn; Haoa-Cardinali, S.; Quinto-Cortés, Consuelo D.; Miquel-Poblete, Juan Francisco; Auckland, Kathryn; Parks, Tom; Sofro, Abdul Salam M.; Ávila‐Arcos, María C.; Sockell, Alexandra; Homburger, Julian R.; Eng, Celeste; Huntsman, Scott; Burchard, Esteban G.; Gignoux, Christopher R.; Verdugo, Ricardo A.; Moraga, Mauricio; Bustamante, Carlos D.; Mentzer, Alexander J.; Moreno‐Estrada, Andrés

doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03902-8

Cited by 42 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…The Ho‘oumi results, along with the forgoing archaeological chronologies from the northern Marquesas Islands, point to a longer occupation sequence relative to that recently proposed by Ioannidis and colleagues [ 108 ]. Drawing on genome-wide data and novel computational analyses, they suggest divergence (and by extension settlement) dates for the northern Marquesas of around AD 1330–1360.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…AD , 95.4% HPD). These new 14 C results indicate human colonisation of Nuku Hiva was roughly two centuries earlier than recent genetic estimates [ 108 ], within a few decades of the Society Islands [ 105 ] if not contemporaneous, but after initial Polynesian explorations in the southern Cook Islands [ 106 , 107 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…As suggested by the foregoing review, chronometric assessments for the northern Marquesas, and Nuku Hiva in particular, are more in line with their proposed divergence estimates for the southern Marquesas (Fatu Hiva), Tuamotu, and Austral Islands. Along with indicating a deeper human history for the northern Marquesas, our results raise questions about the processes that have affected the genetic model outcomes [ 108 ] relating to the northern group, such as the potential of post-settlement trade contact [63, 96, 108 p. 524–25].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lost bioscapes: Floristic and arthropod diversity coincident with 12th century Polynesian settlement, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands

2022

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Knowledge of biodiversity in the past, and the timing, nature, and drivers of human-induced ecological change, is important for gaining deep time perspectives and for modern conservation efforts. The Marquesas Islands (Polynesia) are one of the world’s most remote archipelagos and illustrate the vulnerability of indigenous bioscapes to anthropogenic activities. Characterised by high levels of endemism across many biotic groups, the full spectrum of the group’s flora and fauna is nonetheless incompletely known. Several centuries of Polynesian settlement reshaped biotic communities in ways that are not yet fully understood, and historically-introduced mammalian herbivores have devastated the indigenous lowland flora. We report here on archaeological recovery of a diverse assemblage of plant and arthropod subfossils from a waterlogged deposit on the largest Marquesan island: Nuku Hiva. These materials offer new perspectives on the composition of lowland plant and arthropod communities pene-contemporaneous with human arrival. Bayesian analysis of multiple 14C results from short-lived materials date the assemblages to the mid-12th century AD (1129–1212 cal. AD, 95.4% HPD). Evidence for human activities in the catchment coincident with deposit formation includes Polynesian associated arthropods, microcharcoal, and an adzed timber. Plant macrofossils (seeds, fruits, vegetative structures) and microfossils (pollen, phytoliths) reveal coastal and lowland wet-moist forest communities unlike those observed today. Several apparently extinct taxa are identified, along with extant taxa currently constrained to high altitude and/or interior areas. A diverse inventory of subfossil arthropods—the first pre-18th century records for the islands—includes more than 100 distinct taxa, with several new archipelago records and one previously unreported for eastern Polynesia. The assemblages provide new insights into lowland Marquesan forest communities coincident with human arrival, and portend the considerable anthropogenic transformations that followed. These records also have implications for human colonisation of the Marquesas Islands and East Polynesia at large.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lost bioscapes: Floristic and arthropod diversity coincident with 12th century Polynesian settlement, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands

2022

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“…2000 km from Pitcairn, the nearest inhabited island (Figure 1). The island was initially settled by Polynesian voyagers as part of the large-scale human expansion into East Polynesia in the 12th-13th century AD, after which point current evidence indicates the island was completely isolated [19][20][21][22][23][24]. The island is famous for its impressive megalithic constructions, for the human impacts on its environment, and, controversially, as the location of a demographic and cultural collapse stemming from the unsustainable use of resources [25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

2021

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The history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has long been framed as a parable for how societies can fail catastrophically due to the selfish actions of individuals and a failure to wisely manage common-pool resources. While originating in the interpretations made by 18th-century visitors to the island, 20th-century scholars recast this narrative as a “tragedy of the commons,” assuming that past populations were unsustainable and selfishly overexploited the limited resources on the island. This narrative, however, is now at odds with a range of archaeological, ethnohistoric, and environmental evidence. Here, we argue that while Rapa Nui did experience large-scale deforestation and ecological changes, these must be contextualized given past land-use practices on the island. We provide a synthesis of this evidence, showing that Rapa Nui populations were sustainable and avoided a tragedy of the commons through a variety of community practices. We discuss this evidence in the context of Elinor Ostrom’s “core design principles” for sustainable communities and argue that Rapa Nui provides a model for long-term sustainability.

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“…Overall, these results demonstrate the importance of comparing unsuccessful with successful migrations in efforts understand the engines of human dispersal and suggest that the primary obstacles to human migrations and successful range expansion are sociocultural rather than ecological.Research seeking to understand how the environment affects human migration has been focused almost exclusively on successful migrations. In human genetics, for example, an ever increasing number of studies have used the distribution of both modern and ancient DNA samples [2][3][4] to infer migration routes of early humans. At the same time, cultural studies have focused on understanding dispersal routes using archaeological sites [5], cultural phylogenies [6] and language data-e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-cultural similarity with host population rather than ecological similarity predicts success and failure of human migrations

et al. 2022

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Demographers argue that human migration patterns are shaped by people moving to better environments. More recently, however, evolutionary theorists have argued that people move to similar environments to which they are culturally adapted. While previous studies analysing which factors affect migration patterns have focused almost exclusively on successful migrations, here we take advantage of a natural experiment during World War II in which an entire population was forcibly displaced but were then allowed to return home to compare successful with unsuccessful migrations. We test two competing hypotheses: (1) individuals who relocate to environments that are superior to their place of origin will be more likely to remain— The Better Environment Hypothesis or (2) individuals who relocate to environments that are similar to their place of origin will be more likely to remain— The Similar Environment Hypothesis . Using detailed records recording the social, cultural, linguistic and ecological conditions of the origin and destination locations, we find that cultural similarity (e.g. linguistic similarity and marrying within one’s own minority ethnic group)—rather than ecological differences—are the best predictors of successful migrations. These results suggest that social relationships, empowered by cultural similarity with the host population, play a critical role in successful migrations and provide limited support for the similar environment hypothesis. Overall, these results demonstrate the importance of comparing unsuccessful with successful migrations in efforts understand the engines of human dispersal and suggest that the primary obstacles to human migrations and successful range expansion are sociocultural rather than ecological.

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

Cited by 42 publications

References 97 publications

Lost bioscapes: Floristic and arthropod diversity coincident with 12th century Polynesian settlement, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands

Lost bioscapes: Floristic and arthropod diversity coincident with 12th century Polynesian settlement, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands

Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Socio-cultural similarity with host population rather than ecological similarity predicts success and failure of human migrations

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