News Genetics

South Americans may have traveled to Polynesia 800 years ago

DNA suggests people from the Americas had a role in the peopling of Pacific islands

Easter Island

Ancestors of the people who built massive statues on Easter Island possessed ancestry acquired from South Americans around 800 years ago, a new study of DNA concludes.

A. Moreno-Estrada

By Bruce Bower

More than 800 years ago, Indigenous people in South America traversed more than 7,000 kilometers of open sea to reach eastern Polynesia, a new study suggests.