New genetic research from remote islands in the Pacific offers fresh insights into the ancestry and culture of the world’s earliest seafarers, including family structure, social customs, and the ancestral populations of the people living there today. Guam (pictured) was one of the Pacific islands that scientists believe maintained a matrilocal population structure some 2,500 to…
According to oral tradition, a huge serpent wound around the hills on the Palauan island and created the terraces with her body. But how did the monumental earthworks on Babeldaob really come about? Aerial view of the Ngerbuns el Bad earthworks on the Palauan island of Babeldaob [Credit: C. Hartl-Reiter] Researchers from the Institute for…
The colonization of far-flung Remote Oceania some 3,400 years ago was one of the most ambitious and expansive population dispersals in human history. View of the reefs and islands around Airai Bay, Palau [Credit: University of Oregon] Seafarers traveled thousands of miles of ocean, navigating by stars and overcoming currents and difficult weather to arrive…
Read More “Study finds climate helped guide early Pacific seafarers” »
New dating on the stone buildings of Nan Madol suggests the ancient coral reef capital in the Pacific Ocean was the earliest among the islands to be ruled by a single chief. The pXRF was used on islets across the site of Nan Madol and intensively on the islet of Nandauwas [Credit: Mark McCoy] The…
The U.N. cultural agency on Friday placed nine new sites on its World Heritage List, including a medieval Armenian city located in northeast Turkey. The Church of the Redeemer and Kars are part of the Ani Ruins in Turkey [Credit: Jane Sweeney/Getty Images/AWL Images RM] UNESCO added the old city of Ani, in the Turkish…
For what may be the first time, NOAA and partner scientists eavesdropped on the deepest part of the world’s ocean and instead of finding a sea of silence, discovered a cacophony of sounds both natural and caused by humans. US Coast Guard begin lowering the NOAA hydrophone into the Challenger Deep trench near the Federated…
Archaeologists say they have found evidence indicating that Guam’s ancient Chamorros came from two waves of migration. Incised teeth belonged to a Latte Period man, who died between the ages of 30 and 40 [Credit: C.K. Walth] Archaeologist Judy Amesbury presented findings from the Naton Beach excavation on Tuesday to the Rotary Club of Tumon…
Read More “Archaeologists present findings of Chamorros migration” »
Western Australian Museum researcher Dr Zoe Richards has identified coral used in three sacred pyramid tombs on a prehistoric Micronesian island to date their construction to the 14th century, more than 300 years earlier than was previously thought. Western Australian Museum researcher Dr Zoe Richards has identified coral used in three sacred pyramid tombs on…
Read More “Coral Pyramids in Micronesia date to Middle Ages” »
