https://www.pnas.org/content/118/1/e2022112118/tab-article-info
A study of ancient remains found in the caves of Guam’s Ritidian beach found that Guam’s earlist inhabitants are most closely related to the Pangcah (Amis) people of Taiwan and the Kankanaey people of Northern Luzon.
Not clear on why Wallace’s Line is included- are the inhabitants of western Indonesia and Malaysia of different stock than the people of eastern Indonesia, the Philippines, and remote Oceania? Or do they have a different food package than more easterly peoples?
The Amis must have been pretty handy seafarers in dugout canoes. It looks like they covered some big distances.
2000+KM, the longest open ocean sailing until the age of exploration, even longer than what it took for people to get to Polynesia.
It’s mind-blowing. I wonder what drove them to attempt it in the first place? Population pressures or just sheer wanderlust?
The traditional Pangcah vessel seems to be built with bamboo. Too bad these ancient vessels don’t survive well for us to see how they managed to et across the ocean.
Apparently they also have dugout canoes along side bamboo rafts. I’ve also seen Pangcah bamboo rafts with sails.
http://www.tonyhuang39.com/tony/tony1215.html
Very cool. There must be some similarities in language. I still remember “hafa adai” on Guam for hello. I went there twice to take a very intense exam. I really liked the people and the island. I’ve been meaning to go back one of these days under less stressful conditions.
With new testing tech, lots of areas seem to have passed through taiwan onwards.
Question is, do we own them now since anceint times?
