Dental Affinities among Polynesian and Circum-Polynesian Populations

Abstract

Metric and non-metric dental variations were studied in a number of skeletal and cast samples that originated from Polynesia and circum-Polynesia. Within the Polynesian populations, the Tonga sample aligns with a sample from Marquesas. Several Hawaiian samples form a relatively tight cluster. The sample from the Society Islands shows a dispersed arrangement. Extending the comparisons to include Polynesian, Micronesian, Melanesian, Southeast Asian, and East Asian samples re-affirms the existence of a relatively homogeneous Polynesian morphological pattern, and the distinctiveness of the Polynesian-closer affinity to Southeast Asians than the other Polynesians. This finding supports the orthodox view for the initial settlement of ancestral Polynesians in Tonga and Samoa. The dental traits of Southeast Asians with lesser admixture with East Asian invaders from the north have something in common with those of the prehistoric Jomonese and their lineages in Japan, Polynesians, and Micronesians. It is likely that the Polynesians, Micronesians, and Jomonese share ancestral ties with the indigenous inhabitants of Southeast Asia.

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