Geneticists have found out the origin of the inhabitants of Oceania
An international team of scientists has published a large-scale study of the origins of the peoples inhabiting the islands of the South Pacific. The work was published in the scientific journal Nature .
French geneticists from the Institut Pasteur, Collège de France and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), in collaboration with colleagues from China, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan, conducted genome-wide DNA sequencing of 317 people from 20 populations of Taiwan, the Philippines, the Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon islands, islands of Santa Cruz and Vanuatu.
The results of the study showed that people settled in Near Oceania, namely Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Bismarck archipelago about 40-45 thousand years ago, which is confirmed by archaeological research. Then there was a big pause in the settlement, and further expansion continued only about five thousand years ago – to Micronesia, Polynesia and New Caledonia. During this wave of settlement, the Philippines and the territory of present-day Indonesia were also settled.
Scientists also note. that the second wave started from the island of Taiwan and went very slowly. People left Taiwan five thousand years ago, and the mixing of Austronesian aliens and the population of Near Oceania began only two thousand years later.
In the genomes of all residents of the South Pacific, researchers found about 2.5 percent of genes of Neanderthals and up to three percent of genes of Denisovans. This suggests that during the resettlement, Homo Sapiens interbred with groups of archaic people.
It is also noted that different numbers of Denisovans' genes were found in different peoples of Oceania, which suggests that this group of ancient people could be very diverse and different from that found in Siberia.
Scientists hope that their research will help to better understand the causes of genetic diseases of local peoples and learn more about the origin of humans in general.
Earlier it became known that geneticists discovered Denisovan genes in Native Americans.
