Jottings from the Granite Studio

Some random notes courtesy of the History News Network:

• A recent study shows important DNA and linguistic links between the native peoples of Taiwan and those of the Pacific Islands.

“The 12 original tribes of Taiwan are Austronesian by language and culture, as are the great majority of the island peoples who settled the Pacific islands. Since most historians now believe the Pacific was settled from East Asia, the island of Taiwan seems to have been their main place of origin. Work on DNA is backing this thesis up. About 60 per cent of Maori DNA is in common with Taiwanese aboriginal DNA. The aborigines also have anthropological connections to the Malay people of Southeast Asia.”

• Archaeologists have found urns dating from nearly 2500 years ago in Vietnam. Archaeologists claim the finds, “provide further evidence that an early Metal Age culture had once existed in central Vietnam.”

• Finally, new Japanese PM Shinzo Abe signalled ahead of summit meetings with the leaders of South Korea and China (I wonder if they’ll have anything to talk about…) that he has no plans to retract or dilute previous apologies for Japanese wartime atrocities.