There seems to be a lot of fuzz about this article. Good thing @carlzimmer added the input of @MatisooSmith, renowned geneticist, and Pat Kirch and @HaunaniKane, real experts in Polynesia. We couldn't be more skeptical...
nytimes.com/2020/07/08/sci…
nytimes.com/2020/07/08/sci…
The paper, and especially most press-releases seem to suffer from "going way beyond reasonable conclusions from a very limited study" syndrom.
The fact that it seems to be willing to resurrect the dead and buried theories of Thor Heyerdahl also raises eyebrows from us...
The fact that it seems to be willing to resurrect the dead and buried theories of Thor Heyerdahl also raises eyebrows from us...
So the new study is based on genetic modeling from living islanders. While the one in 2017 that used "alleged" pre-contact islanders, showed absolutely no admixture with indigenous people from South America. What does this mean?
cell.com/current-biolog…
cell.com/current-biolog…
A ridiculouos assertion by co-author Karla Sandoval in the NYTimes article says about the rapanui: “They were interested to know if they really belonged to the Polynesian islands”.
Actually no: Our language, customs, material culture, spirituality, crops, etc was enough proof...
Actually no: Our language, customs, material culture, spirituality, crops, etc was enough proof...
So now they say they found a handful of people on Rapa Nui (and elsewhere in Poly) with Zenu (i.e. Colombia) genes. How could it be that in such a small island as Rapa Nui, isolated for 16 generations, those genes didn't spread to the whole population?
And then some ridiculous far-reaching conclusions like "Polynesians carried them in their canoes": From Colombia? Seriously? Not coastal South Americans, or people living near the west coast of the continent... Zenu from Colombia. Come on, now...
And even more ridiculous: "Maybe they drifted... from Colombia to Polynesia"... because, that happens a lot, right?
We preferred the ancient aliens theories. At least they were more fun.
We preferred the ancient aliens theories. At least they were more fun.
By the way, we fully support the idea of transpacific contacts from Polynesia to South America. We believe there is plenty of evidence about it, and there is some good science dealing with that.
The true scale and consequences, though... that requires much further scrutiny.
The true scale and consequences, though... that requires much further scrutiny.
