Ref ID:	23998
Ref Type:	Book Section
Authors:	Matisoo-Smith, Elise Allen, Jim S. Roberts, Royston M. Irwin, Geoffrey J. Lambert, D. M.
Title:	Rodents of the sunrise: mitochondrial DNA phylogenies of Polynesian Rattus exulans and the settlement of Polynesia
Date:	1999
Source:	Le Pacifique de 5000 à 2000 avant le présent
Place of Publication:	Paris
Publisher:	Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
Abstract:	This paper presents a unique biological approach to the study of human settlement and population mobility in Polynesia, focusing on an animal that was transported through the Pacific by the ancestral Polynesians. We argue that analyses of genetic variation of the Polynesian, of Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) are appropriate for a phylogenetic model of human colonisation and mobility. DNA phylogenies derived from 92 mitochondrial control region sequences of Rattus exulans from East Polynesia are presented. These results identify a Southern Cook/Society Islands origin for all East Polynesian R. exulans populations, indicate dual origins for Hawaiian R. exulans, and indicate multiple origins for New Zealand R. exulans. These results are inconsistent with models of Pacific settlement involving substantial isolation following colonisation, and confirm the value of genetic studies of commensals for human prehistory.
Date Created:	11/1/2006
Editors:	Galipaud, Jean-Christophe Lilley, Ian
Page Start:	259
Page End:	276