Origins of Vanuatu and Tonga’s first people revealed

The people of Vanuatu today are descended from Asia first of all. Their original base population is Asian. They were straight out of Taiwan and perhaps the northern Philippines. The origins of Vanuatu and Tonga's first inhabitants has been revealed in a surprise discovery made by ANU archaeologists in the first major study of ancient DNA (aDNA) from the Pacific Islands. The study and not from the neighbouring Australo-Papuan populations of Australia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands that had been in the region for between 40,000 and 50,000 years. Researcher Professor Matthew Spriggs said the discovery was confirmed after aDNA analyses were carried out on three skeletal samples excavated from the oldest known cemetery of the Pacific Island Lapita culture near Port Vila in Vanuatu. "The people of Vanuatu today are descended from Asia first of all.