There are rare moments on an archaeological project which offer extraordinary insight into the past or when the past connects with the present in an utterly astonishing way. Both occurred in late July of 2007, as we were carrying out archaeological excavations in the village of Nukuleka at the northeast entrance to Fanga ‘Uta Lagoon on Tongatapu. This story is about the documentation of a shell game, taupita, but a shell game, as we found out, with an almost 3000-year-old history. It also is a story that binds Tonga’s earliest Lapita ancestors to the people of Nukuleka today. By David Burley and Sean Connaughton.
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Results for ancient Tongans
Thursday 6 October 2016
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Canberra, Australia
A new DNA study by scientists at the Australian National University has indicated that the first people to live in Tonga and Vanuatu originated directly from Taiwan and the Northern Philippines. The study Named “Genomic insights into the peopling of the Southwest Pacific” bases its findings from DNA tests conducted on ancient skeletal remains uncovered in Tonga and Vanuatu.
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