Easter Island DNA Shows Interesting Mix
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If you look at the DNA of the natives of Easter Island, and exclude whose ancestors interbred with Europeans (who arrived in 1722), then you’ll find most of the genes point to a colonization from Asia. But some have the HLA genes found only in Native Americans. See New Scientist, June 2011.
Island legends describe an invasion from the West by a red-haired, long-eared race. The “short-ears” became the slaves of the “long-ears”, and the statues are of the long-ears. It has been speculated that the long-ears were European (due the the red hair), and they may be, but these mysterious elders seem to have arrived via South America. The DNA news presents two possibilities – is it from the long-ears, or is from slaves they brought over from the Americas? I figure it was the latter.
A third possibility is the ancient Americans walked there, although the timeline doesn’t really fit.
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