New genetic research shows that there was mingling between ancient native peoples from Polynesia and South America, revealing a single episode of interbreeding roughly 800 years ago after an epic transoceanic journey. The question of such contact – long hypothesized in part based on the enduring presence in Polynesia of a staple food in the form of the sweet potato that originated in South and Central America – had been keenly debated among scientists. Scientists said on Wednesday an examination of DNA from 807 people – from 14 Polynesian islands and Pacific coastal Native American populations from Mexico to Chile – definitively resolved the matter.
