The El Arenal chicken bones are not the only evidence for
Polynesian contact with the Americas. During searches of museum
collections to attempt to find other commensal animal bones, we
encountered archaeological collections of human remains from Isla
Mocha, a small island located approximately 30 km off the coast of
south central Chile, about 100 km south of the site of El Arenal.
Many of the crania and some of the postcranial remains from the
island had characteristic morphological features associated with
Polynesian populations. This ‘Polynesian phenotype’ includes features
such as tall stature, overall robusticity, a pentagonal cranium
when viewed from behind, mandibles with a broad, vertical ramus
and convex curved mandibular body resulting in a ‘rocker’ motion
when placed on a flat surface, and an oval fovea capitis on the head
of the femur (Houghton,1977,1996). Craniometric analyses of these
skulls suggest that the population is admixed with some crania
clustering with South American populations and others with
Polynesian and Pacific populations (Matisoo-Smith and Ramirez,
2010). Ancient DNA analyses, including attempts at whole
genome sequencing, are currently being undertaken on these
samples to identify if there is any genetic evidence of Polynesian
ancestry.