Hawaiian-like petroglyphs discovered in Tonga

Petroglyphs very similar to those from Hawai'i in the period from the 13th to 16th centuries have been found in Tonga, 3000 miles away.

The petroglyphs were found near two archaeological sites -- a village and a chiefly pigeon-snaring mound -- both of which have been dated to the same period as the Hawaiian petroglyphs.

Because this rock art was located in an inter-tidal zone, the patina or lichens usually used to directly date petroglyphs was absent.

We do know from the testimony and map of the Tahitian navigator Tupaia that there was regular contact between the central and even western Pacific with the eastern Pacific at least in the region of French Polynesia. Since recent discoveries of stone tools also suggest contact between the former area and Hawai'i, the possibility of transmission between the two areas is not that remote.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

Tonga petroglyphs hint at Isle link

Carvings uncovered by erosion are similar to those found in Hawaii

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser staff writer

Beach erosion on a remote island in Tonga has revealed a trove of petroglyphs that archaeologists say are similar to those found in Hawai'i, hinting at the possibility of early travel between the two archipelagos.

More than 50 petroglyphs were found late last year on several slabs of beach rock at the northern end of Foa Island, in Ha'apai. The rocks apparently were buried for centuries under several feet of sand until heavy seas exposed them.

Photos by Chas and Shane Egan

This figure from the Tonga carvings is similar to those found in Hawai'i, archaeologist David Burley said.

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Austronesian genetic connection between Madagascar and Tonga

The following abstract discusses a study that verifies a genetic connection between populations in Madagascar and Tonga far to the East.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento

J Hum Genet. 2008;53(2):106-20. Epub 2007 Dec 14. Links

Austronesian genetic signature in East African Madagascar and Polynesia.

Regueiro M, Mirabal S, Lacau H, Caeiro JL, Garcia-Bertrand RL, Herrera RJ.

Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, University Park, OE 304, Miami, FL, 33199, USA.

The dispersal of the Austronesian language family from Southeast Asia represents the last major diaspora leading to the peopling of Oceania to the East and the Indian Ocean to the West. Several theories have been proposed to explain the current locations, and the linguistic and cultural diversity of Austronesian populations. However, the existing data do not support unequivocally any given migrational scenario. In the current study, the genetic profile of 15 autosomal STR loci is reported for the first time for two populations from opposite poles of the Austronesian range, Madagascar at the West and Tonga to the East. These collections are also compared to geographically targeted reference populations of Austronesian descent in order to investigate their current relationships and potential source population(s) within Southeast Asia.

Our results indicate that while Madagascar derives 66.3% of its genetic makeup from Africa, a clear connection between the East African island and Southeast Asia can be discerned. The data suggest that although geographic location has influenced the phylogenetic relationships between Austronesian populations, a genetic connection that binds them beyond geographical divides is apparent.

News: Unearthing an ancient Pacific capital

The most recent research suggests the location of the Polynesian urheimat (homeland) was located in the modern kingdom of Tonga.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento
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Unearthing an ancient Pacific capital

Randy Boswell , Canwest News Service

Published: Monday, January 21, 2008

A Canadian archeologist's discoveries in the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga are rewriting the history of a vast portion of Oceania and tracing the common origins of a host of island peoples -- including Hawaiians, Tahitians, Samoans and New Zealand's Maoris -- to a remote peninsula that he believes was once the site of a large and lasting "capital" of ancient Polynesia.

Simon Fraser University's David Burley says his latest finds from the Nukuleka archeological site on one of Tonga's southern islands shows it was the principal "founding settlement" of Polynesia about 2,800 years ago, and endured long enough for a genetically and culturally distinctive people to evolve and begin spreading across the immense "Polynesian triangle" bounded by Hawaii in the north, New Zealand in the southwest and fabled Easter Island in the far southeast, not far from the coast of South America.

Burley's finds at Nukuleka first made headlines in 2001 after he published a study showing it was the oldest archeological site in Polynesia. Elaborately decorated pottery shards recovered from a layer of shoreline nearly 3,000 years old indicated it was the earliest known encampment by ocean voyagers from ancient Melanesia - the Pacific island group to the west that includes New Guinea, Fiji and New Caledonia.

But the latest excavations at Nukuleka, conducted last summer by Burley's team, revealed a much richer array of artifacts and a revised theory about the importance of the site.

The Tongan outpost, says Burley, became a "major village" that appeared to prosper for generations and, eventually, serve as a seedbed for the peopling of all of Polynesia.

Critically, he adds, the settlement at Nukuleka lasted long enough for distinctively Polynesian physical traits, pottery styles and chieftain-based social structures to develop, differentiating these people from their Melanesian ancestors.

"It's not a small little site as we originally thought," Burley told Canwest News Service. "It becomes the central place from which the population at Tonga begins to spread out across Polynesia. This site is so different in scale that it truly must have been a node from which people got settled and came back, and so on - like the capital."

The SFU team's evidence that Nukuleka was "the cradle of Polynesia" has already prompted a renewed push by Tongan officials to win UNESCO World Heritage Site recognition for its islands' archeological treasures.

Chile's Easter Island, a UNESCO site believed to have been first reached by a small party of Polynesians less than 1,000 years ago, is famous for its massive carvings of stone heads and dramatic civilizational collapses.

Solving the "Polynesian problem" - explaining how and when these ancient Asians migrated across such immense stretches of ocean to populate so many far-flung islands - has been a central challenge for generations of anthropologists and archeologists.

Burley said the new finds will be of particular interest to Polynesian populations throughout the Pacific and their diaspora around the world.

"Nukuleka," he said, "becomes a village to which all Polynesians in some way can probably relate their heritage to."

© Canwest News Service 200