New archaeological discoveries are radically changing our understanding of how the eastern Polynesian islands were settled, pointing to dates that are much more recent than anyone suspected.

The research suggests Hawai'i was part of a kind of regional eastern Polynesian homeland connected by well-traveled voyaging canoe routes and trade patterns. Its members included Hawai'i, the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, the Society Islands, the Cook Islands, Aotearoa or New Zealand and other groups.

Two researchers say Hawai'i's initial settlement was probably between 800 A.D. and 1000 A.D.