Polynesian homeland in island South-East Asia? A genetic perspective

There are two main geographic hypotheses attempting to explain Austronesian origins and dispersals: those with Asian mainland origins and those with origins offshore. (Excluded from this discussion is an extreme third hypothesis, proposed by Heyerdahl,\u27 suggesting specifically, that Polynesian ancestry may have been from South America). All models have relied to different extents on palaeo-linguistics and archaeology, the presumption being that both of these methods of prehistoric reconstruction can be fused to build a branching ethnic tree that identifies expansion, migration, dispersal and diversification of discrete Austronesian peoples. As has been frequently pointed out, this approach is flawed for many reasons, among other things, by the relative mobility of cultural and linguistic markers when compared with the large source populations that nurtured them