Ancestry-specific analyses of genome-wide data confirm the settlement sequence of Polynesia

Abstract: By demonstrating the role that historical population replacements and waves of admixture have played around the world, the genetics work of Reich and colleagues has provided a paradigm for understanding human history [Reich et al. 2009; Reich et al. 2012; Patterson et al. 2012]. Although we show in Ioannidis et al. [2021] that the peopling of Polynesia was a range expansion, and not, as suggested by Huang et al. [2022], yet another example of waves of admixture and large-scale gene flow between populations, we believe that our result in this recently settled oceanic expanse is the exception that proves the rule.