The ancient Polynesian inhabitants of the Easter Island were not as isolated as previously thought, a new genetic study published Thursday in the journal Current Biology revealed.

Scientists who traced the genetic makeup of 27 native inhabitants of the lonesome island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean have found that there was significant contact between Easter Islanders and Native American populations sometime between 1300 and 1500.

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Genetic data suggested that there was an ancient route that linked the Polynesian island, also known as Rapa Nui, and the native people of South America, which made intermarriage possible, geneticist Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and the leading author of the study said. 

This was long before the first European guests arrived in the island in 1722.

Scientists suggest two likely scenarios to explain how the ancient inhabits of an island that lies 3,700 kilometers west of South America and more than a thousand kilometers from its nearest neighbor could have interbred with Native Americans: either they made the perilous journey to the Americas or the Indians took the trip.

Malaspinas said it was probably the former.

"It seems most likely that they voyaged from Rapa Nui to South America and brought South Americans back to Rapa Nui and admixed with them," said geneticist Mark Stoneking.

Stoneking was involved in a related research studying Brazil's indigenous Botocudo people, which was also published Thursday in the Current Biology journal.

The study features another case of Polynesians making the perilous ocean journey into South America.

In the research, it was revealed that two of the ancient Botocudo skulls discovered in Brazil belonged to Polynesians. The indigenous people are known for their culture of wearing wooden disks in their ears and lips, Reuters reported.

The ancient people of the Rapa Nui are best known for the 900 massive stone face statues called moai they erected in the island. Cut off from most of the world, the Easter Island is considered among the most isolated places on earth inhabited by humans.  

TagsEaster Island, Rapa Nui, Easter Islands sailed to South America