Theories of Polynesian origins

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Theories of Polynesian origins

• Most orthodox and non-orthodox
• theories agree
• Lapita sites made by ancestors of the people
  currently occupying Polynesia (and some of
  Melanesia)
• Lapita sites made by people speaking Austronesian
  languages

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Theories of Polynesian origins

• Where the theories disagree
• From where did people who made Lapita sites come?
• If they came from outside of Near Oceania, how
  much did they share technologies and genes with
  existing populations?

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Orthodox Theories of Polynesian Origins

• Lapita sites are so different from earlier sites,
  they must have been created by people who
  migrated in from elsewhere
• These new people had relatively little
  interaction with people already there

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Orthodox Theories of Polynesian Origins two
main varieties

• Fast (or Express) TrainOut of Taiwan (Bellwood,
  Blust, Diamond)
• 2. Slow BoatOut of Island SE Asia (Oppenheimer,
  Spriggs?, Kirch?)

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1. Fast Train
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2. Slow Boat
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languages, genes, artifacts

• AN only language spoken in remote Oceania
• If Lapita people spoke NAN, why didnt it
  survive?
• AN in Near Oceania mostly along coasts
• Mirrors location of Lapita sites
• AN words for pig, dog, chicken, boat parts, some
  plants borrowed by NAN languages
• Mirrors items found for 1st time in Lapita sites

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languages, genes, artifacts

• Polynesian DNA is more closely related to Asian
  DNA than Melanesian DNA
• Some mtDNA markers (e.g. 9 base-pair deletion)
  found in 90 of Polynesians have Asian origins
• But
• Y-chromosomes?
• Malaria markers?
• Can geneticists differentiate 3200 BP from later
  events?

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languages, genes, artifacts

• Pots, dogs, chickens, pigs have origins in
  mainland Asia
• Chronology of spread of these items mirrors
  phylogenentic reconstructions of AN
  proto-languages
• Ultimate source of these items (i.e. Asia)
  coincides with sources of main genetic markers in
  Polynesian populations

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Things to watch for

• Names for cultural groupings that are not
  cultural (Austronesian people, Lapita people)
• Improper use of other problematic labels, esp.
  Melanesian
• Claims about chronology from disciplines that
  have no way to measure time
• Theories from one discipline used as truths in
  another
• Assumptions about relationships between observed
  phenomena and past processes