26
2 The Genetic Context
2.4 Evidence for a Spice Island Homeland from the Study
of Commensal Animals
As noted in the Introduction, in addition to direct genetic evidence for a primarily
Wallacean ancestry for Polynesians, the work of the archaeobiologists Elizabeth
Matisoo-Smith and J.H. Robins powerfully and specifically supports the idea of a
Spice Island homeland for the Lapita and Polynesian peoples, centred in Halmahera
[24]. The Pacific rat, Rattus exulans, which was carried into the Pacific as a food
animal by the Lapita peoples and their descendants, the Polynesians, is found in
all Lapita archaeological sites. But it was absent in Taiwan until very recently. It is
found with greatest haplogroup diversity in the Spice Islands. Matisoo-Smith and
Robins trace the two haplogroups of Rattus exulans which are found in the Pacific
to Halmahera, establishing this island as the homeland for the Pacific rat and, by
implication, for the people who carried it into the Pacific.
In 2005 the 13 authors of a major worldwide study of centres of pig domestication [25] showed that the pig carried into the Pacific by the Lapita peoples was
unrelated to the Taiwanese wild pig:
Our data also have implications for conflicting hypotheses regarding Pacific prehistory. . .
The New Guinea pig haplotypes in this study cluster with pigs from Hawaii, Vanuatu,
and Halmahera in a monophyletic group (here termed the ‘Pacific clade’) within the large
Eastern Eurasian cluster and are well separated from any other individuals, domestic or
wild. . . This evidence is consistent with a Lapita dispersal from Near to Remote Oceania,
but the lack of any genetic affinity between this group and Taiwanese wild boar. . .offers no
support for the ‘Out-of-Taiwan’ model of human and pig dispersal into Near Oceania. This
evidence also supports the importance of Halmahera, which has been shown to be the origin
of Remote Oceanic populations of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) transported by the Lapita
peoples and the origin of the human mitochondrial marker known as the ‘Polynesian motif’
(pp. 1620–1621).
In 2007 in an article involving 32 researchers, Larson et al. [26] argued that
Pigs representing the Pacific Clade originated in East Asia, potentially in peninsula
Southeast Asia, where we suggest they were initially domesticated. They were subsequently
introduced to the Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, and the New Guinea region. In addition, the
Lapita and later Polynesian dispersals into Oceania appear to be exclusively associated with
Pacific Clade pigs (p. 4838).
They note not only that the Taiwanese pig is unrelated to the Pacific clade but
that pigs in the Philippines, supposedly on the migration route to Near Oceania
from Taiwan, are also unrelated to the Pacific clade:
the Pacific signature was absent from samples from Taiwan (which included native wild and
domestic modern pigs and an ancient domestic sample), and none of the 40 wild samples
from the Philippines (identified as endemic S. Philippensis) or the 17 introduced domestic
samples from two central Philippine islands, Panay and Cebu. Instead, wild boar from the
Philippines form a distinct clade within the basal portion of the tree (p. 4836).
Genetic evidence from a study of the dispersal of pigs into the Pacific thus
fails to support the purported late route of the Lapita peoples from Taiwan via the
Philippines to Near Oceania. The introduction of Sus scrofa into the Sunda Islands,
2 The Genetic Context
2.4 Evidence for a Spice Island Homeland from the Study
of Commensal Animals
As noted in the Introduction, in addition to direct genetic evidence for a primarily
Wallacean ancestry for Polynesians, the work of the archaeobiologists Elizabeth
Matisoo-Smith and J.H. Robins powerfully and specifically supports the idea of a
Spice Island homeland for the Lapita and Polynesian peoples, centred in Halmahera
[24]. The Pacific rat, Rattus exulans, which was carried into the Pacific as a food
animal by the Lapita peoples and their descendants, the Polynesians, is found in
all Lapita archaeological sites. But it was absent in Taiwan until very recently. It is
found with greatest haplogroup diversity in the Spice Islands. Matisoo-Smith and
Robins trace the two haplogroups of Rattus exulans which are found in the Pacific
to Halmahera, establishing this island as the homeland for the Pacific rat and, by
implication, for the people who carried it into the Pacific.
In 2005 the 13 authors of a major worldwide study of centres of pig domestication [25] showed that the pig carried into the Pacific by the Lapita peoples was
unrelated to the Taiwanese wild pig:
Our data also have implications for conflicting hypotheses regarding Pacific prehistory. . .
The New Guinea pig haplotypes in this study cluster with pigs from Hawaii, Vanuatu,
and Halmahera in a monophyletic group (here termed the ‘Pacific clade’) within the large
Eastern Eurasian cluster and are well separated from any other individuals, domestic or
wild. . . This evidence is consistent with a Lapita dispersal from Near to Remote Oceania,
but the lack of any genetic affinity between this group and Taiwanese wild boar. . .offers no
support for the ‘Out-of-Taiwan’ model of human and pig dispersal into Near Oceania. This
evidence also supports the importance of Halmahera, which has been shown to be the origin
of Remote Oceanic populations of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) transported by the Lapita
peoples and the origin of the human mitochondrial marker known as the ‘Polynesian motif’
(pp. 1620–1621).
In 2007 in an article involving 32 researchers, Larson et al. [26] argued that
Pigs representing the Pacific Clade originated in East Asia, potentially in peninsula
Southeast Asia, where we suggest they were initially domesticated. They were subsequently
introduced to the Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, and the New Guinea region. In addition, the
Lapita and later Polynesian dispersals into Oceania appear to be exclusively associated with
Pacific Clade pigs (p. 4838).
They note not only that the Taiwanese pig is unrelated to the Pacific clade but
that pigs in the Philippines, supposedly on the migration route to Near Oceania
from Taiwan, are also unrelated to the Pacific clade:
the Pacific signature was absent from samples from Taiwan (which included native wild and
domestic modern pigs and an ancient domestic sample), and none of the 40 wild samples
from the Philippines (identified as endemic S. Philippensis) or the 17 introduced domestic
samples from two central Philippine islands, Panay and Cebu. Instead, wild boar from the
Philippines form a distinct clade within the basal portion of the tree (p. 4836).
Genetic evidence from a study of the dispersal of pigs into the Pacific thus
fails to support the purported late route of the Lapita peoples from Taiwan via the
Philippines to Near Oceania. The introduction of Sus scrofa into the Sunda Islands,