DNA, Agriculture, Malaria, Melanesians & South American, Trail

It appears that Melanesians originated from at least two migrations from Africa. The first migration involved a group of people who travelled to S.E Asia from Africa along the coastline of Southern Asia, starting 100,000 years ago.

These people share their DNA with the Pygmies of the Congo area. Relics of this original population can be found on the Andaman Islands and in the highlands of New Guinea. As well as having common DNA markers, they brought with them the bow and arrow, Divination Systems and the Malaria parasite Plasmodiun falciparum.

Another migration, possibly 75,000 years ago, were a people similar to the Vedda of India, Batak of Lake Toba, Australian Aborigine and Ainu as well as people who once lived in the far reaches of Tierra del Fuego. A third migration of much taller Africans entered Melanesia, only 10,000 years ago, bringing with them the Malaria parasite plasmodium vivax, the bottle-gourd and jack bean. At this same time there appeared a large agricultural economy, with large irrigation canals, still visible today. This was totally out of character with the technological development of the rest of New Guinea.

Recent studies have shown a large amount of African genes, amongst the people of the Amazon River, dating back to about 10,000 years.

This is associated with extensive agricultural earthworks and pottery. Both earthworks and pottery are similar to sites of ancient civilisations of a similar age in Africa, around areas such as Lake Chad. Cultivated plants, including cotton, jack-beans, and the bottle-gourd, which appear to have reached South and Central America, from Africa before 7000 BCE, would have been essential for oceanic voyagers.

The cotton would have been used for rope and clothing, the jack beans for food and the Bottle-gourd (Large), for holding water and Palm-wine, as well as Bottle-gourd (Small), for holding plant medicine or magic potion. Schwerin1970; Simmonds 1976; Lathrap 1977. Wendel, Schnabel, and Seelanan (1995) have now established the identity, through DNA sequences, of 26 chromosome cotton variety grown both in Africa and in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, presumably a result of early human activity. This cotton is also found throughout the Pacific, yet the Polynesians don't use it.

There also appears to be a possible connection between early African voyaging and the very early pottery of the lower Amazon (10,000-8,000 BCE) reported by Roosevelt et al. (1991) and Hoopes (1994). Hoeppli (1969) identified African parasitic diseases that were present in early America and was able to distinguish them from those brought later by the slave trade. Some South American populations, especially the Ge groups of eastern Brazil, possess some seemingly African traits. Recent studies on the Malaria parasite gene have shown that small populations of Plasmodium Falciparum appeared in Africa and spread around the world with migrating populations, as much as 100,000 years ago.

Both the parasite and the mosquito underwent rapid evolutions about 10,000 years ago, forming Plasmodium vivax, which ranges widely through Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas.

Their coincidence with the development of settled agricultural societies seems to be a telling clue to the history of the disease and the movement of man around the world.

It appears that early African Agriculturalists have gone further than just the Amazon River. 10,000 years ago they crossed the Isthmus of Panama and their adventurous spirit led them into the Pacific Ocean, following the sun, with the wind behind them and a favourable ocean current, they cruised into the heart of Melanesia, searching for a big river, they established themselves on mainland New Guinea up the Wahgi valley.

Bringing with them the Bottle-gourd, jack bean, Malaria and an advanced agricultural society. Mr Tim Denham, in excavating the Kuk Swamp, in the Upper Wahgi Valley in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, in 1998 and 1999 uncovered mounds of earth, dated to 7000-6400 years ago, that were designed to aerate soggy soil so that it could be used for planting in areas that were poorly drained. This is a similar style of swamp farming used in the upper Amazon River, recently found by another team of archaeologists. Just as the Amazon Indians never chose to continue the civilisation that came their way, neither did the highlanders of New Guinea. If fact most of these Melanesia still practice the religion of Ancestral worship and divination probably in its most ancient form.

DNA:  Wendel, Schnabel, and Seelanan; Roosevelt et al, Hoopes, Hoeppli
Archaeologist: Mr Tim Denham