PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A U.S. DNA study found that the ancestry of central and eastern Pacific Ocean islanders is not genetically tied to that of people in the western islands.
The study, which sampled DNA from 1,000 people in 41 populations across the Pacific, found that Polynesians and Micronesians were not genetically related to Melanesians, The New York Times reported Friday.
Genetic information from the study is also said to have found that East Asians and Taiwan aborigines were most strongly related to the Polynesians and Micronesians. Researchers claimed that this evidence supported that theory that 3,500 years ago, the islanders came from Taiwan and the coast of China.
"Our analysis indicates the ancestors of Polynesians moved through Melanesia relatively rapidly and only intermixed to a very modest degree with the indigenous populations there," Temple University Professor Emeritus, Jonathan S. Friedlaender, said of the study conducted by him, his wife and other scientists.
The new information counters an opposing theory which argues that Polynesians mostly originated in Melanesia.
