© David BurleyWhile excavating, researchers found a coral file artifact from within the beach.
The first Polynesian settlers sailed to Tonga between 2,830 and 2,846 years ago, according to new research.
The findings, published Nov. 7 in the journal
PLoS One, relied on ultraprecise dating of coral tools found at Tonga's first settlement.
"The technique provides us with unbelievable precision in dating quite ancient materials," said David Burley, a co-author of the study and an archaeologist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. "This stuff is almost 3,000 years old, and the date range is within 16 years."
The new techniques could be used to trace the migration of Polynesia's prehistoric seafarers as they colonized the archipelagos of the Pacific Ocean, he said.
The
Lapita people, the ancestors of
modern-day Pacific Islanders, first sailed from coastal New Guinea roughly 5,000 years ago, reaching the Solomon Islands around 3,100 years ago and gradually expanding farther east toward what is now the archipelago Tonga, Burley told LiveScience.
Across a string of Pacific islands, the Lapita left traces of their culture: primitive nail files broken from
staghorn coral reefs. The ancient inhabitants of Oceania likely used these coral files to smooth the surfaces of wooden objects or shell bracelets, Burley said.