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The first Polynesian settler sailed to Tonga between 2,830 and 2,846 years ago , according to new research .
The findings , published Nov. 7 in the daybook PLoS One , bank on ultraprecise geological dating of coral tools found at Tonga ’s first settlement .
While excavating, researchers found a coral file artifact from within the beach.
" The technique provides us with unbelievable precision in date quite ancient materials , " articulate David Burley , a cobalt - source of the study and an archaeologist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver . " This stuff is almost 3,000 years honest-to-god , and the escort range is within 16 year . "
The raw technique could be used to describe the migration of Polynesia ’s prehistorical seafarers as they colonize the archipelagos of the Pacific Ocean , he said .
TheLapita people , the ancestors ofmodern - 24-hour interval Pacific Islanders , first sailed from coastal New Guinea rough 5,000 year ago , reaching the Solomon Islands around 3,100 years ago and step by step expanding further east toward what is now the archipelago Tonga , Burley told LiveScience .
A nail file made from staghorn coral reef by the Lapita people at Polynesia’s oldest known settlement, Nukuleka. Using ultra-precise dating techniques, the researchers determined the first Polynesians arrived about 2,838 years ago.
Across a string of Pacific islands , the Lapita left traces of their cultivation : rude nail files broken fromstaghorn coral reefs . The ancient inhabitants of Oceania likely used these coral files to smooth the surface of wooden objects or shell watchstrap , Burley said .
Archaeologists determine when the Lapita migrate to an island by estimating the age of the earliest coral files there . Historically , they dated the coral file using radioactive carbon isotopes ( atoms of the same factor with different weights ) . But accurate numbers were elusive , because carbon copy geological dating can be off by a few hundred eld . [ The 9 Craziest Ocean Voyages ]
To see if they could do better , Burley and his team analyse 16 coral files found buried in the sand under the web site of Polynesia ’s oldest known settlement , a small small town call Nukuleka on the Tongan island of Tongatapu .
But alternatively of using radioactive carbon , the squad used radioactive U and developed a method to date stamp the ancient coral fragments with incredible preciseness .
The researchers nail the date of first landfall at Tonga to within eight years of 826 B.C.
Because the Lapita scatter such coral file at many sites , the new proficiency could be used to retrace the whole tone of the ancient seafarers throughout Oceania with astounding accuracy , Burley aver .
" We can await at this progression across the Pacific in ways we could n’t before , " he allege .
