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Scientific discoveries made in 2020 and 2024 have dramatically strengthened the evidence that Polynesians and Indigenous South Americans encountered one another centuries before Christopher Columbus reached the Americas in 1492.
The strongest evidence comes from DNA analysis, which indicates that the two populations interbred sometime between approximately 1200 and 1400 AD.
What makes these findings especially interesting is that they raise the possibility that Polynesian navigators sailed all the way to South America, encountered Indigenous populations, and returned home with people or descendants of those populations.
The evidence for contact is now extremely strong. The question of who crossed the Pacific, and in which direction, is not yet settled.
1. The 2020 DNA discovery
In July 2020, researchers published a groundbreaking study in Nature titled Native American Gene Flow into Polynesia Predating Easter Island Settlement.
They examined the DNA of more than 800 individuals, including people from 17 Pacific island populations and Native American groups.
Their findings were remarkable:
Polynesian populations carried identifiable Native American genetic ancestry.
The ancestry most closely resembled that of Indigenous populations from present-day Colombia.
The genetic mixing appeared to have begun around 1150–1200 AD, centuries before European exploration.
The ancestry appeared across several eastern Polynesian islands, including the Marquesas, Mangareva, and Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
Researchers proposed that an initial contact event occurred in eastern Polynesia and that subsequent migrations spread the genetic ancestry throughout the islands. οΏΌ
This was particularly significant because it suggested that the encounter wasn't necessarily centered on Easter Island, as earlier theories had assumed.
2. The 2024 discovery: Ancient DNA confirmed the contact
A September 2024 study in Nature provided even more compelling evidence.
Scientists sequenced the genomes of 15 ancient inhabitants of Rapa Nui whose remains dated from approximately 1670 to 1950.
They found that:
The ancient individuals had approximately 10% Native American ancestry.
The ancestry was consistent with that found in modern Rapa Nui inhabitants.
Genetic analysis dated the original interbreeding to approximately 1250–1430 AD.
The findings demonstrated that Native American genetic ancestry was present in the population long before modern genetic testing, rather than being solely the result of more recent migration.
The study also addressed a problem with earlier research: previous analyses of ancient remains had failed to detect Native American ancestry, leaving uncertainty about whether the DNA found in living islanders reflected pre-European contact.
The new, more comprehensive genetic analysis substantially resolved that uncertainty. οΏΌ
3. The sweet potato mystery
Long before the DNA discoveries, researchers noticed that Polynesians cultivated sweet potatoes, a crop originally domesticated in tropical America.
Even more intriguingly, the Polynesian word kΕ«mara resembles names for sweet potatoes in parts of South America, including Quechua kumar.
The crop was present in Polynesia before European contact.
For decades, this was one of the strongest clues that Polynesian navigators had reached the Americas and returned carrying sweet potatoes.
However, a 2018 genetic study suggested that some sweet potato lineages may have reached the Pacific naturally long before humans arrived. That means the crop alone cannot establish human contact, although its cultivation and linguistic history remain interesting evidence. οΏΌ
4. Chicken bones discovered in Chile
Another intriguing archaeological discovery came from El Arenal in southern Chile.
Researchers identified chicken bones that appeared to date from before Columbus. Because chickens were carried throughout the Pacific by Polynesian voyagers, some researchers proposed that Polynesians had introduced them to South America.
But the interpretation has remained controversial, particularly regarding the bones' genetic origins.
A new excavation study published in March 2024 supported the site's pre-Columbian chronology but did not uncover additional archaeological evidence of Polynesian contact. οΏΌ
5. Did Polynesians actually land in South America?
This is the important distinction.
The DNA evidence establishes that people of Polynesian and Native American ancestry had children together before European contact. However, that encounter could have occurred in several ways.
Possibility A: Polynesians sailed to South America
They reached the coast, encountered Indigenous people, and returned to Polynesia, potentially bringing passengers, crops, and knowledge.
Possibility B: South Americans reached Polynesia
Native American voyagers crossed the Pacific and integrated into Polynesian communities, leaving the genetic ancestry scientists now detect.
The 2024 study explicitly acknowledges that genetics alone cannot establish the direction or number of voyages. οΏΌ
Polynesians were exceptionally capable ocean navigators, so a round trip to the Americas is entirely plausible. But plausible is not the same as demonstrated.