The Book of Mormon tells the story of Hagoth, an ‘exceedingly curious man’ who sails away with some of the Nephites on boats around 55 BCE. They’re never heard from again, and the Book of Mormon narrative continues without them.
When I was on my mission, many of the Polynesian church members I came into contact with were convinced they were descendants of Hagoth (and therefore of Hebrew origin, like everyone else in the Book of Mormon). One Maori missionary even gave an elaborate presentation showing how the Book of Mormon narrative dovetailed with stories of his people’s origin.
And it wasn’t just the rank and file members that advanced the idea:
In the April General Conference of 1962, Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Council of the Twelve said, “As Latter-day Saints, we have always believed that the Polynesians are descendants of Lehi and blood relatives of the American Indians, despite the contrary theories of other men.”
The idea was even taught by President Joseph F. Smith, who told a group of New Zealand Maoris:
“I would like to say to you brothers and sisters… you are some of Hagoth’s people, and there is NO PERHAPS about it!”
But that story’s going to have to go.
Pacific Islanders’ Ancestry Emerges in Genetic Study
The ancestral relationships of people living in the widely scattered islands of the Pacific Ocean, long a puzzle to anthropologists, may have been solved by a new genetic study, researchers reported Thursday.
In an analysis of the DNA of 1,000 individuals from 41 Pacific populations, an international team of scientists found strong evidence showing that Polynesians and Micronesians in the central and eastern islands had almost no genetic relationship to Melanesians, in the western islands like Papua New Guinea and the Bismarck and Solomons archipelagos.
The researchers also concluded that the genetic data showed that the Polynesians and Micronesians were most closely related to Taiwan Aborigines and East Asians. They said this supported the view that these migrating seafarers originated in Taiwan and coastal China at least 3,500 years ago.
There will be a lot of disillusioned Polynesians, if indeed they notice at all.
It seems to me that religions should just stick to statements that can’t be verified. Most of the time, when they say anything falsifiable, it gets falsified.
13 February 2008 at 11:54 pm
I’m not a genetist, but I am not terribly surprised by the result. I do have a few questions though. How does one test that someone does or does not have a Hebrew ancestor and eliminate that as a vector? As best I understand the technology, you can’t and I fail to see how this study does anything of the kind. Gene studies consist of looking for common gene markers shared by groups and look for statistical commonalities. However, I don’t see how this rules out a minor contribution from a small minority of individuals in the past. It would seem to me that the dominate gene pool would retain those markers and still remain mostly the same.
14 February 2008 at 1:03 am
I’m not sure what the rate of interbreeding is in the islands — my guess would be lower than, say, on the continent.
But even with a small amount of foreign genetic input, you can still get the overall picture from taking a large sample. One thousand is pretty wide.
IANAG either.
28 September 2008 at 4:07 am
Daniel i must say you are the biggest dumbass i know. you even served mission. yet you reject the testimony of the prophets. if they said it its true. not daniels dumb manmade research. don’t post smak on he net.
that theory has no proof besides that stupid lapita pottery theory that ties polynsians to tawanes and asia. dont get reality confused with jealosy. so what the nephites had pottery too. bsides the polynesians are O blood type asians naturally B blood type. the only people with b are africans asians. and heavily mixed people for example alot of latterday jews are b blood type because of mixing with different races. so please don’t post smak about nesian hebrews on the net they are the last reminent of nephi’s blood line beside the three full blood still on the earth. i curse you if you go further.
28 September 2008 at 4:10 am
besides they look nothing alike. we dont have squinty eyes and really small stature. we are extremely large with big eyes and curly hair like a jews afro. thats how dumb your theory is.
anyone can see that there is no ressemblance.
28 September 2008 at 7:15 am
Lehi, you may be confusing phenotype with genotype. Appearance (phenotype) and heritage (genotype) do not necessarily go hand in hand. To claim that Pacific Islanders look more like someone of Hebrew descent is a bit problematic.
I’d honestly say there are more pressing and concerning challenges to the Book of Mormon and especially the Book of Abraham than the ancestry of Hagoth.
29 September 2008 at 4:18 am
Lehi: Lapita pottery looks interesting. Blood type: eh. If two groups have similar blood types, it may or may not be significant depending on contact between groups, tests of statistical significance, and a lot of other factors I’m not aware of. An interesting area of study, though I don’t think it’s as solid as the DNA research.
Anyway, this does not really answer to the evidence I’ve presented. If you have anything on topic, I’d be glad to hear it. Name-calling just makes you seem childish.
And if you’re angry, it would probably be more appropriate to direct that anger to those who tell you phony-baloney stories and then charge you 10% of your income for the pleasure.