Genetic Affinities of Prehistoric Easter Islanders: Reply to Langdon

Abstract

Last year my colleagues and I published a short article in the journal Nature (Hagelberg et al. 1994) describing the analysis of genetic polymorphisms in bones of prehistoric Easter Islanders. A few months later I was interested to read a manuscript disputing our DNA result, submitted by Robert Langdon to Nature. Langdon's letter was not accepted for publication, a pity in my opinion, as it might have stimulated a lively correspondence on Easter Island origins. However, Langdon has now included his rather vehement response to our DNA data in the longer article published here, in which he presents his own ideas on the origins of the prehistoric Easter Islanders.