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Science 2 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5509, pp. 1735 - 1737
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5509.1735
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News

The Peopling of the Pacific

Ann Gibbons

Archaeologists, linguists, and geneticists have been struggling to understand the origins of the bold seafarers who settled the remote Pacific Islands. Now some scientists are converging on a model that involves mingling between Austronesian speakers, perhaps from Taiwan or nearby areas, and the indigenous people of Melanesian islands such as Papua New Guinea. The fusion of these cultures created a people that swept out into the remote Pacific islands, exploring 4500 kilometers in outrigger canoes and leaving a trail of distinctive pots behind. But a true synthesis of all the data remains elusive. Researchers argue about just how much mixing occurred between peoples, and at the moment each data set tends to favor a different homeland for the original voyagers.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Demography, Migration and Conflict in the Pacific.
H. Ware (2005)
Journal of Peace Research 42, 435-454
   Abstract »    PDF »
Complex origins of breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis, Moraceae): implications for human migrations in Oceania.
N. J. C. Zerega, D. Ragone, and T. J. Motley (2004)
Am. J. Botany 91, 760-766
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)