By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Confusing debates continue about Polynesian migrations and where Hawaiians came from. Fortunately, relief is at hand.

For a readable rundown on what to believe and not, you can't do better than a new book by our distinguished dean of Pacific anthropologists, Doug Oliver, who lives on Black Point.

On Page 6 in "Polynesia in Early Historic Times," Oliver assures us that Polynesians did not come by raft from Peru. They are not Mesopotamians by way of India, or Egyptians or British-Columbian Indians.

The story of their origins begins with distant ancestors on Java 1.9 million years ago. A million years ago, the Earth's atmosphere cooled and glaciers turned some of the world's oceans to ice. Four such ice ages have occurred since then.

Each time, the sea level dropped, exposing land between the islands of Southeast Asia. Humans could walk or swim from island to island.

However, there was at least one stretch of water between what is now Australia and the nearest island that ran 36 nautical miles, 41 miles by car.

Artifacts 40,000 years old have been found in Australia, meaning humans must have found a way to cross the water long before. It is logical to assume they used some kind of water craft. "Such crossing doubtless continued for thousands of years," writes Oliver.

Now the confusion begins, because in the process of exploring and populating island Southeast Asia, people developed complex variations of language and culture.

One language family, Austronesian, is believed to have originated on Taiwan or the adjacent Chinese mainland, Oliver writes. This line of

the family tree is a huge language family that includes Java, Sumatra, Madagascar, Malaysia, South Vietnam, the Celebes, Philippines, Taiwan, New Guinea and Polynesia.

Oliver tells us that 3,000 or 4,000 years ago, "four momentous innovations entered this area from the west and became established." They came via an Asiatic-type people who spoke an Austronesian dialect; raised garden crops, fruit trees, pigs, dogs and chickens on land; and possessed superior sailing and fishing skills.

When Oliver wrote his book, traces of such people had been found in Taiwan. Last year, archaeologists Barry Rollet of Hawai'i and Tianlong Jiao of China excavated such traces on the Chinese mainland.

Writes Oliver: "The most conspicuous identifiable component of that bundle is a type of pottery," found as far east as Fiji and spread to Tonga and Samoa.

There, Oliver adds, "after several generations of successful adaptation ... they became what have come to be known as Polynesians."

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-0873.