Early migrations of Polynesians' ancestors
For those interested in the origins of
Polynesians/Hawaiians from an archaeological point of view, check out this
Advertiser
column
by Bob Krauss about new "solid evidence that the first voyages of the ancestors
of Polynesians were made between the South China Coast across open ocean to the
Penghu Islands, 100 miles away in the Strait of Taiwan. It is the first direct
archaeological link established for the beginning of the epic saga of
prehistoric Pacific Ocean voyaging."This
supports the relatively recent theory that Melanesians, Micronesians and
Polynesians are "all descendants of the Austronesians, who originated on the
South China Coast to become one of the great seafaring cultures of the
world."After discussing this particular
early connection in the Strait of Taiwan, Krauss gives a timeline for the
migrations into the Pacific (accompanied by a map), with Hawaii at 900 A.D. I'm
confused about this, though, as I was under the impression that there is
archaeological evidence of habitation of the Hawaiians islands going back at
least several centuries prior to this.
Anyway, this type of approach is only
one way of understanding history, but useful to know what the latest theories
are.
Posted: Sun - July 23, 2006 at 07:09 AM