A Biodistance Analysis of Mandibles From Taiwan, Asia, and the Pacific: A Search for Polynesian Origins

Two multivariate statistical procedures, stepwise discriminant function analysis and Mahalanobis' distance, are applied to nine mandibular measurements recorded in Neolithic (Nankuanli East site) and Iron Age (Shihsanhang) Taiwanese and comparative series from East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific for assessing the population history of Taiwan and the origin of Polynesians. Taiwan's role as the homeland of a Neolithic expansion of Austronesian-speaking agriculturalists, an expansion that would eventually extend from Madagascar in the west to Polynesia in the east, is examined. The results of this biological distance study indicate that Neolithic and Iron Age inhabitants of Taiwan are more closely related to cranial series from Northern Asia than they are to each other. While Iron Age Shihsanhang reveals connections with some of the Pacific Island series, the earliest Neolithic inhabitants of Taiwan are unrelated to the inhabitants of Remote Oceania. Larger and additional samples, including Taiwan's modern Indigenous groups, will enhance future research.