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A comment on Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 years ago.

Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by ravenstine on Wednesday July 08, 2020 @06:00PM (#23774668)
It's also possible that Polynesians visited North America. The Chumash people had relatively sophisticated canoes called tomols which have planks that are sewn together, which was a technique unique to them in North America, but has been seen in Polynesian and South American boat construction.

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fo...

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=24433

> Archaeologist Terry Jones of California Polytechnic State University acknowledges that the Malibu Lagoon Chumash could have encountered Polynesian master navigators, who gave their tomol building skills to the Chumash.

> Among North American Indians, only the Chumash, and later the neighboring Gabrielino, built sewn-plank canoes. In the Western Hemisphere, this technology is otherwise known only from the coast of Chile and among Pacific Islanders. The tomols were able to carry large loads for long distances which could allowed for navigation across the Pacific.

I can't seem to find information on whether there's a confirmed Polynesian genetic connection to the Chumash. Probably unlikely, but I've always found the idea interesting.

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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by catalogia on Wednesday July 08, 2020 @07:14PM (#23775284)
It seems conceivable, although probably unlikely, they might have learned the technique from Polynesian flotsam.
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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by BurningFrog on Wednesday July 08, 2020 @08:19PM (#23775738)
Some Polynesian canoe(s) drifting shore in California seems the simpler theory.
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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by aunty_helen on Thursday July 09, 2020 @12:34AM (#23776969)
Something slightly related, but mostly of a tangential interest:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_bell

The Maori population also having descended from the Pacific Island Polynesians.

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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by willvarfar on Thursday July 09, 2020 @02:52AM (#23777647)
Fascinating trivia: Madagascar was populated by the Polynesians

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Madagascar#A_common...

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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by gquiniou on Thursday July 09, 2020 @09:49AM (#23780149)
No, it was people from Sunda Islands (now Indonesia) who are also austronesians.
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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by quixoticelixer- on Thursday July 09, 2020 @01:01AM (#23777090)
Moari polynesian
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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by beowulfey on Thursday July 09, 2020 @06:21AM (#23778649)
It’s possible, but imagine you find a decrepit alien structure on the shoreline. You’ve never encountered it before. Do you think this broken down structure is going to easily give you answers? Do you think you’ll be able to recreate its building techniques without guidance to build a fully working one (even though this one may be incomplete)? I think this scenario is less likely than being trained by a fellow human. Unfortunately, unless there is evidence of genetic admixture it may remain uncertain.
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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by waheoo on Wednesday July 08, 2020 @09:57PM (#23776253)
The simpler theory is simultaneous invention.

Little hard to prove either though.

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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by labster on Wednesday July 08, 2020 @11:02PM (#23776549)
We do have a lot of tar washing up on the beach around here, which is a needed to make a Chumash canoe. Available resources determines what you can make, too.
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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by walrus01 on Wednesday July 08, 2020 @10:53PM (#23776522)
The amount of stuff that drifted and washed up on BC, WA, OR beaches after the 2011 tsunami was quite varied. It's not entirely impossible that some canoes went adrift and later ended up on Pacific Northwest beaches...
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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by ravenstine on Wednesday July 08, 2020 @09:03PM (#23775989)
True. That, too, is an interesting hypothesis.
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Re:Polynesian DNA suggests epic voyage to South America 800 ... by saberdancer on Thursday July 09, 2020 @02:15AM (#23777446)
Traders from Chile are another option.
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