Dental Variation of the Polynesian Populations.

Abstract

Metric and nonmetric dental variation was studied for several samples from Polynesia and Southeast Asia. Within the Polynesian samples, the Tonga sample aligns with a sample from Marquesas. A few Hawaiian samples form a relatively tight cluster. The sample from the Society Islands shows a dispersed arrangement. Extending the comparisons to include the Polynesian and Southeast Asian samples affirms the existence of a relatively homogeneous Polynesian dental morphological pattern. Among the Polynesian samples, Tonga shows the closest affinity to the early Thailand sample. This finding supports the orthodox view for the initial settlement of ancestral Polynesians in Tonga and Samoa from somewhere in Southeast Asia. Moreover, the metric dental affinity of Marquesans with Tongans is compatible with the hypothesis that the Marquesas Islands may have been initially colonized in eastern Polynesia.