Easter Islanders Met Up With Native Americans Earlier Than Thought

Easter Islanders, living on a remote spot of land in the middle of the Pacific, were not loners at all, and in fact met up with Native Americans earlier than scientists thought, according to new research.

A genetic study, published in the journal Current Biology, reveals that these ancient people had significant contact with Native American populations hundreds of years before the first Westerners reached the island in 1722. What's more, the ancient Polynesian people who populated Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, even interbred with Americans sometime between 1300 and 1500 AD.

The findings are a reminder that "early human populations extensively explored the planet," Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, from the Natural History Museum of Denmark's Centre for GeoGenetics, said in a press release. "Textbook versions of human colonization events - the peopling of the Americas, for example - need to be re-evaluated utilizing genomic data."

The Polynesians are most famous for their impressive head-and-torso stone statues, of which there are 900 scattered around the island, some weighing as much as 82 tons. Archaeological evidence suggests that these inhabitants first landed on Easter Island around 1200 AD, presumably by way of wooden canoes and with favorable winds guiding them - a great feat considering the journey was nearly 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers). The culture flourished until falling into decline by the 16th century.