2.5 Polynesian Cold Resistance and Famine Resistance: Houghton’s Evidence
31
He adds carefully,
I do not mean to imply that this particular VNTR polymorphism represents the thrifty gene,
but it points to a possible area for exploration and integrates the biological adaptations found
in modern-day Polynesians that appear to result from their voyaging history.
Joanna Poulton [34] suggests that the first (oldest) polymorphism (at 16189) of
the four polymorphisms that define the Polynesian motif may be linked to famine
resistance, which, as we have seen, is a physiological concomitant to cold resistance, sustaining shivering and muscular exertion which are the best physiological
means for actively fighting hypothermia. The antiquity of this Ice Age polymorphism and the survival advantage it offers in times of famine may be reflected in
its wide distribution in east Asia, Mongolia and North and South America. The statistical correlation that Poulton demonstrates between the first substitution (16189)
of the Polynesian motif and diabetes mellitus, and so possibly with genetic thrift or
famine resistance, suggests that mitochondrial genes may have been at least partially
involved in the evolution of Polynesian famine resistance. But it is unlikely, given
the complex morphological changes involved in the genetic selection for cold resistance, that the genes governing cold adaptation simply belong to the faster-evolving
mtDNA and Y-chromosome parts of the genome. The first mitochondrial polymorphism that Poulton quotes as possibly being associated with famine resistance is
estimated to be 60,000 years old [35]. As the full evolution of high levels of cold
resistance in Polynesians may have involved a raft of slowly evolving genes, it is
hard to imagine the time scale for such evolution requiring anything less than tens
of thousands of years.
Along with their cold-resistant phenotype, the “thrifty gene”, coding for hyperinsulinemia, enabled the Polynesians to survive not only the famines that occurred
in the tropical Polynesian islands and are recorded from AD 900 onwards in traditional histories (see Chapter 19), but also the extreme exertion needed to fight
hypothermia in a canoe on the ocean. We believe these genetic and physiological
facts, which underpin our prehistory for the ancestors of the Lapita and Polynesian
peoples, support our claim that it was highly likely that Spice Islanders had been
regional maritime traders for probably tens of thousands of years before they colonized Micronesia, Island Melanesia and Western Polynesia. Their cold resistance
and famine resistance were vital to their role as maritime traders and were arguably
a long-term consequence of this role. They were equally vital to their eventual role
as long-distance maritime colonists and, much later, as we shall see in Part II, to
their survival of cold and starvation in New Zealand in the Little Ice Age.
Whether or not the evolution of the Polynesian body form took 30,000 years,
Houghton’s research establishes that it must have developed in response to many
millennia of exposure to life in an oceanic environment. His research explains the
selective advantages that cold resistance and famine resistance would have given
Spice Islanders and their Polynesian descendants in exploring and colonizing the
Pacific. It explains why they proved to be the only people to colonize the Pacific
and how they were able to sail the Cinnamon Route from the Spice Islands to the
31
He adds carefully,
I do not mean to imply that this particular VNTR polymorphism represents the thrifty gene,
but it points to a possible area for exploration and integrates the biological adaptations found
in modern-day Polynesians that appear to result from their voyaging history.
Joanna Poulton [34] suggests that the first (oldest) polymorphism (at 16189) of
the four polymorphisms that define the Polynesian motif may be linked to famine
resistance, which, as we have seen, is a physiological concomitant to cold resistance, sustaining shivering and muscular exertion which are the best physiological
means for actively fighting hypothermia. The antiquity of this Ice Age polymorphism and the survival advantage it offers in times of famine may be reflected in
its wide distribution in east Asia, Mongolia and North and South America. The statistical correlation that Poulton demonstrates between the first substitution (16189)
of the Polynesian motif and diabetes mellitus, and so possibly with genetic thrift or
famine resistance, suggests that mitochondrial genes may have been at least partially
involved in the evolution of Polynesian famine resistance. But it is unlikely, given
the complex morphological changes involved in the genetic selection for cold resistance, that the genes governing cold adaptation simply belong to the faster-evolving
mtDNA and Y-chromosome parts of the genome. The first mitochondrial polymorphism that Poulton quotes as possibly being associated with famine resistance is
estimated to be 60,000 years old [35]. As the full evolution of high levels of cold
resistance in Polynesians may have involved a raft of slowly evolving genes, it is
hard to imagine the time scale for such evolution requiring anything less than tens
of thousands of years.
Along with their cold-resistant phenotype, the “thrifty gene”, coding for hyperinsulinemia, enabled the Polynesians to survive not only the famines that occurred
in the tropical Polynesian islands and are recorded from AD 900 onwards in traditional histories (see Chapter 19), but also the extreme exertion needed to fight
hypothermia in a canoe on the ocean. We believe these genetic and physiological
facts, which underpin our prehistory for the ancestors of the Lapita and Polynesian
peoples, support our claim that it was highly likely that Spice Islanders had been
regional maritime traders for probably tens of thousands of years before they colonized Micronesia, Island Melanesia and Western Polynesia. Their cold resistance
and famine resistance were vital to their role as maritime traders and were arguably
a long-term consequence of this role. They were equally vital to their eventual role
as long-distance maritime colonists and, much later, as we shall see in Part II, to
their survival of cold and starvation in New Zealand in the Little Ice Age.
Whether or not the evolution of the Polynesian body form took 30,000 years,
Houghton’s research establishes that it must have developed in response to many
millennia of exposure to life in an oceanic environment. His research explains the
selective advantages that cold resistance and famine resistance would have given
Spice Islanders and their Polynesian descendants in exploring and colonizing the
Pacific. It explains why they proved to be the only people to colonize the Pacific
and how they were able to sail the Cinnamon Route from the Spice Islands to the