Craniometric Variation of the Prehistoric Rapanui (Easter Islanders)

The origin, migration and evolution of the Rapanui (Easter Islanders), has been contested for many years. Archaeological, linguistic and genetic/serological data have played instrumental roles towards resolving these disputes thus far. Several models have been developed which have addressed the origins of the prehistoric population that colonized Rapa Nui (Easter Island), with the results of these craniometric analyses compared to those expected patterns of variation and relatedness. The results indicate that the prehistoric Rapanui had the strongest affinities with the Gambier Islands population. The east Polynesian data exhibited patterns of biological variation indicative of the microevolutionary processes of genetic drift and gene flow. This research illustrated the utility of quantitative traits in population genetic studies and should encourage the implementation of model-bound methods of analysis for all investigations of biological affinity when using skeletal samples to represent prehistoric populations. The techniques used in this investigation will have broad reaching applications in future Polynesian bioanthropological research.