The Polynesian Motif Was Already There A genetic signature found across the entire Remote Pacific traces back to New Guinea long before Austronesian seafarers arrived — and that changes the story of Pacific colonization

New DNA research overturns a key assumption: the “Polynesian motif,” a maternal lineage spanning nearly all of Remote Oceania, didn’t come from Taiwan — it arose on the north coast of New Guinea ~6,500 years ago. #Archaeogenetics #PacificPrehistory #Lapita www.anthropology.net/p/the-polyne...

Palau’s First Settlers Were Already a Mixed Population Before They Arrived New ancient DNA research overturns assumptions about when Pacific peoples began mixing — and reveals nearly 3,000 years of unbroken genetic continuity in the western Pacific.

Palau’s first settlers arrived ~3,200 years ago already carrying 40% Papuan ancestry — centuries before similar mixing happened elsewhere in the Pacific. New ancient DNA research rewrites the archipelago’s founding story. #Paleoanthropology #AncientDNA #PacificPrehistory