NEW YORK – The people who settled the Mariana Islands may have come from the Philippines, a new analysis of ancient DNA suggests.
Humans first settled the Mariana Islands — a stretch of 15 islands that includes Guam — about 3,500 years ago, but it has been unclear who these settlers were and where they came from. Some evidence has suggested the Philippines, New Guinea, Indonesia, or the Bismarck Archipelago as the source of the settlers.