By Dylan Gaffney & Daud Aris Tanudirjo/The Conversation In the deep human past, highly skilled seafarers made daring crossings from Asia to the Pacific Islands. It was a migration of global importance that shaped the distribution of our species – Homo sapiens – across the planet. These mariners became the ancestors of people who live in the region today, from West Papua to Aotearoa New Zealand. For archaeologists, however, the precise timing, location and nature of these maritime dispersals have been unclear. For the first time, our new research provides direct evidence that seafarers travelled along the equator to reach islands off the coast of West Papua more than 50 millennia ago. Study Traces Epic Polynesian Migration to the Pacific Islands Evidence Shows Archaic Humans Sailed to Aegean Islands 450,000 Years Ago Digging at the Gateway to the Pacific Our archaeological fieldwork on Waigeo Island in the Raja Ampat archipelago of West Papua represents the first major international collaboration of its kind, involving academics from New Zealand, West Papua, Indonesia and beyond. Read moreSection: NewsEvolution & Human OriginsAsiaAncient PlacesRead Later