2012 Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, Andreas Reinecke and Dominik Bonatz

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European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists International Conference (13th: 2010: Berlin.)
Connecting empires and states: selected papers from the 13th International Conference of the European Association
of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, Volume 2 I edited by Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, Andreas Reinecke & Dominik
Bonatz. Singapore: NUS Press, 2012.

I
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-9971-69-643-6 (pbk.)

I. Excavations (Archaeology) - Southeast Asia Congresses. 2. Historic sites Southeast Asia Congresses.
3. Archaeology and art Southeast Asia - Congress~s. I. Tjoa-Bonatz, Mai Lin. II. Reinecke, Andreas. III. Bonatz,
Dominik. IV. Title.

DS523
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Front cover image: Aerial view on the excavation at Tanah Lua. Tanah Datar in West Sumatra, Indonesia, April 2012
(Photo: D. Bonatz and M. Tonch).

Back cover image: Angkor Thorn: face tower from south, Cambodia (Photo: AJ. Gail).

Typeset by: Forum, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Printed by: Mainland Press Pte Ltd
 Kennerknecht I, Hämmerle JM, Blench RM (2012) The peopling of Nias, from the perspective of oral
literature and molecular genetic data. In Crossing Borders. Selected Papers from the 13th
International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, vol. 2, ed.
M.L. Tjoa-Bonatz, A. Reinecke and D. Bonatz. Singapore: NUS Press, 2012, pp. 3‒15 The Peopling of Nias

Chapter 1

The Peopling of Nias, from the Perspective of

Oral Literature and Molecular Genetic Data
Ingo Kennerknecht, Johannes Maria Hämmerle and Roger M. Blench

Abstrak

Penduduk Nias, dari perspektif tradisi lisan dan data molekul genetik
Asal-usul penduduk asli pulau Nias tidak diketahui. Linguistik tidak begitu membantu, karena penelitian
arkeologis mengindikasikan umur hunian setidaknya 12.000 tahun BP, artinya eksistensinya sudah
sebelum ekspansi bahasa Austronesia, yang merupakan satu-satunya bahasa yang dipergunakan disana
dewasa ini. Kami telah meneliti sejarah genetis pihak ayah (Kromosom-Y) dan garis keturunan ibu
(DNA mitokondria). Dalam penelitian itu termasuk lebih dari 900 orang yang dipilih dari keturunan 11
leluhur yang berbeda di seluruh pulau Nias itu. Di antara para penduduk yang diselidiki tidak ditemukan
jejak genetis dari manusia pra-Austronesia dan juga tidak dari Asia Selatan dan Eropa. Dan sebagai
kontras dengan sekitar 20 Kromosom Y haplogroups yang dipilih dan yang ada representativ untuk Asia
Tenggara hanya dua (!) yang ditemukan di Nias. Kedua Haplogroups Y yang ditemukan telah diketahui
sebagai penanda dengan asal-usul genetik orang Timur dan Asia Tenggara dengan frekuensi tertinggi
pada penduduk pribumi di Taiwan dan di Filipina. Keanekaragam Haplogroups mitokondria sedikit lebih
besar, tetapi masih menunjukkan variasi yang sangat terbatas. Seterusnya garis keturunan ayah, dan tidak
begitu ekstrim tingkat garis keturunan ibu, menunjukkan keanekaragam genetis yang sangat kecil. Hal ini
sangat mengheranka. Karena di Nias, yang terletak dalam barisan pulau-pulau yang berjarak hanya 120km
dari pantai barat Sumatera, sebenarnya dapat diharapkan bahwa masuk banyak pengaruh genetis. Hasil
pemeriksaan kelihatan, seolah-olah pada waktu yang masih belum begitu lama sejumlah bapak leluhur
yang sangat sedikit saja dengan beberapa perempuan datang ke pulau Nias ini.

Abstract
The origin of the native inhabitants of the island of Nias is unknown. Linguistics is not very helpful,
as archaeology indicates settlement dates of at least 12,000 years BP, well before the expansion of
Austronesian, the only language spoken there today. We investigated the genetic history of the paternal
(Y-chromosomes) and the maternal (mitochondrial DNA) lineages from more than 900 people out of 11
representative clans throughout the island. The Pre-Austronesian peoples seem to have left no significant
genetic footprint in the contemporary population studied, and there is also no admixture of South Asian
and recent European Y-chromosomes. In contrast to around 20 selected Y-chromosome haplogroups
representative for Southeast Asia, surprisingly, only two were found. The Y-haplogroups that were found
have been identified as a marker of East and Southeast Asian genetic origin with highest frequencies
in Taiwanese indigenous population and in the Philippines. The mitochondrial haplogroups are more
variable but still have a highly skewed distribution. Moreover, paternal lineages, and to a lesser extent the
maternal lineages, exhibit greatly reduced overall genetic diversity, contrary to what would be expected.
Over time a continuous genetic admixture would be expected as Nias lies within a chain of islands
just 120km from the west coast of Sumatra. At present we have no idea what type of extreme selective

 

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 Ingo Kennerknecht, Johannes Maria Hämmerle and Roger M. Blench

pressure would lead to such a male-biased bottleneck or founder event with the subsequent isolation of
the expanding population.

Introduction
Nias is unique in terms of culture (Sundermann 1884; Rappard 1909; Kleiweg de Zwaan 1914; Schröder
1917; Hämmerle 1982, 1990, 1999, 2001, 2008; Beatty 1992; Bonatz 2002, 2009), language (Nothofer
1986; Brown 2005) and architecture (Gruber and Herbig 2009; Hämmerle and Lehner 2010). Indigenous
Nias oral traditions, ono Niha (i.e., children of humans) reach back 30 to 40 generations and point to a
“Chinese” immigration, although this must in fact be a recent accretion. But do molecular genetic studies
correspond to other accounts of the peopling of Nias and in particular the dispersal of clans over the island
from the founder village in the area of Sifalagö Gomo [Fig. 1.1]? This cannot be decided at present, as the
geographical distribution of major genetic markers is of poor resolution. Present studies only allow us to
differentiate between continents and subcontinents, for example India from Southeast Asia or Island South-
east Asia from Australia and Oceania but not Java from Sumatra, Malaysia, Philippines or South China
(e.g., Jobling and Tyler-Smith 2003). Yet, as Nias lies in the centre of a long chain of islands between
the Andamans, the Nicobars, Simeulue in the north and the Batu Islands, Siberut, Mentawai Islands and
Enggano in the south, one might expect signs of a genetic impact from South Asia. There could well be an
echo from the time when early modern humans followed the “out of Africa” route, starting 50,000–70,000
years BP and reaching Australia 47,000 years BP (Karafet et al. 2005; Macaulay et al. 2005; Hua Liu et
al. 2006). Although a few Nias people have frizzy hair [Fig. 1.2] there is otherwise no obvious negrito
physiognomy in comparison with the Andamanese, or some Orang Asli groups in Malaysia.

Fig. 1.1: Map of Nias including Hinako and the Batu islands and the coastal line of Sumatra with
harbor towns next to Nias (Map: A. Reinecke).

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 The Peopling of Nias

Peter Bellwood (1997: 241) suggested

that Palaeolithic populations of hunter-
gatherers in Island Southeast Asia were
displaced by people coming from Southern
China and Taiwan between 5000 and 1600
years BP. However, Hubert Forestier et al.
(2005) report on the Hoabinhian site of Tögi
Ndrawa near Gunung Sitoli which contains
deposits going back to 12,000 years BP. These
caves were continuously occupied by hunter-
gatherers until 850 years BP [Fig. 1.3].
T.M. Karafet et al. (2005) found only
2.2 per cent traces of a pre-Neolithic gene
pool in their studies of the paternal gene pool
of the Balinese. Yet, there are an increasing
number of arguments against a Neolithic
large scale displacement of pre-existing
populations in Island Southeast Asia (e.g.,
Donohue and Denham 2010; Blench 2012).
One strategy to resolve this issue was to take
more than 900 blood and spit samples from
indigenous Nias people throughout the island.
Small groups of recent immigrants, including
Acehnese, Javanese, Malay and Chinese, were
excluded.

Fig. 1.2: Four men from Nias, top and bottom left: with frizzy
The Peopling of Nias and Dispersal of (afro-textured) hair (nias. mo-gariti, indon. keriting); bottom
Clans in the Local Oral Literature right: with curly hair (nias. mo-götö) (Photos: J.M. Hämmerle
and I. Kennerknecht).
A considerable amount of oral literature has
been collected by one author, Pastor Häm-
merle. As with all oral accounts, these records
need to be deconstructed carefully to extract
the useful kernels. The Nias language makes
intensive use of symbolic language, further
adding to the difficulties of interpreting these
traditions.

Nias Toponymy
There are a variety of names for the island
of Nias and its inhabitants. The Nias people
call themselves simply ono Niha (ono =
child, Niha = human) and the island tanö
Niha (tanö = earth). Immigrants were called
ndrawa (e.g., ndrawa Aceh = foreigners from
Aceh). The ono Niha say that they are the real
humans in contrast to an earlier population,
the ono Mbela, said to live in trees (ba hogu
Fig. 1.3: Selected shell midden from hunter-gatherers we
geu) and be less developed. The habitat of collected in 1m depth from the site Tögi Ndrawa, near Gunung
this ancestral population is called ölia ulidanö Sitoli. The oldest deposits from the bottom in 4m depth are dated
(ölia = name of a liana [wewe] climbing high back around 12,000 years BP (Photo: I. Kennerknecht).

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 Ingo Kennerknecht, Johannes Maria Hämmerle and Roger M. Blench

up the trees and binding the tops of several trees together). Other races are said to live in caves (tögi)
with their ancestor Lature Danö (or Latura Danö), in rivers (idanö) with their ancestor Tuhangaröfa (or
Cuhanaröfa), in gorges (awuwukha) with their ancestor Nadaoya or to have been drowned by a tsunami
[e.g., on Sim[al]uk Island a lost village square is named nibunu asi (= killed by the sea)]. Other names
are Hulo Ge´e, island of parrots (hulo = island, Geé, e´e, keke = parrot), and Hulo Solaya-laya, dancing
island, because of the many earthquakes (Hämmerle 2001). The Chinese called it parasol island (Yoshiko
Yamamoto 1986: 53).

Ancestral Myths
Nias oral tradition tells us that the ancestral foundress, Siraso, came from across the seas, landing either
in the estuary of Susua River (Hämmerle 1982: 13), or in the nearby estuary of Nalawö (Hämmerle 2001:
165) just opposite Singkuang, a Sumatran harbor town. Later she (and her descendants / followers) moved
up the Susua valley through a gorge (baho Zusua) to the confluence of the rivers Gomo and Susua and
further up the Gomo to a protected valley where they founded Sifalagö Gomo behind a mountain range
aside the river Gomo [Fig. 1.4].
Siraso is the female ancestor of the people who named themselves Niha (humans) and whose
genealogy begins with Siraso and her son Telögu. In South Nias, Siraso is usually called Nandrua and
Telögu is called Ho or Ho me mobörö (Ho in the beginning) (Hämmerle 1990: 8). Later a great part of
the descendents of Siraso left the Gomo area to the south and advanced as the nobles (Si´ulu) (Hämmerle
1986: 237). The genealogies of the noble clans in the south go back nearly 20 generations. Agner Møller

Fig. 1.4: Sifalagö Gomo lies in a fertile valley not far from the coast and well hidden behind a steep mountain range. Yet,
the valley is accessible by the Susua River. In the overview the satellite map shows that this is — among other places just
opposite Sumatra — for early settlers the most convenient place for a protected and successful settlement on Nias (Maps
kindly provided by Jamil Djonie, Gunungsitoli).

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 The Peopling of Nias

(1934: 121) assumes that the oral traditions of the genealogies in the south are more reliable than those
of the north.
Hohó (songs) also recount migration myths. In the years between 1984 to 1987 (Hämmerle 1990: 7)
and during a meeting of Hohó-singers from Hilinawalö in Gunung Sitoli in 19–22 March 2007, 23 texts
were collected by handwriting, tape recorder or on CD (this appears on the CD Musik Tradisional Nias.
Hoho Hilinawalö Fau, recorded and edited 2007). One of these song-texts from the singer (ere hohó,
ere = priest, expert) Mesozokhö Bu’ulölö, or Ama Sama, from the village Hilinawalö Fau, sub-district
Fanayama, district South-Nias, states that Siraso is the daughter of a king from the other side, i.e., from
Asia (Hämmerle 1990: 6). The following song text given by Ama Sama is one version which describes
the location of the first settlements (Hämmerle 2001: 165).
Raya sa mege da’ö, In the South, it had taken place,
Raya ba Gomo sahaya-haya In the South, at the quiet river Gomo,
Raya ba Nalawö sia’a mbanua, In the South, in Nalawö, the first settlement,
Raya ba Mazinö hönö rozi, In the South, in Mazinö, the thousandfold,
Raya ba Mazinö hönö fao. In the South, in Mazinö with thousandfold attendances.

In two other hohó by Ama Sama there is a quite different account. It is said that the son of Siraso is
Hia Walani Adu (Adu = figure) also called Hia Walani Luo (Luo = sun) or Hia Ho. Ama Sama also says
that the given name of Ho is Amaöndra and that only later he got the name Hia Walani. Twins were born
to him, a boy named Telögu and a girl named Sorai Zisöma. Hia brought the girl to the source and the boy
to the estuary of the river (the name of the river is not given but is probably the Gomo). In another song
Ama Sama says that Ho married his mother as there were no other humans (i.e., Niha) on earth (me lö
Niha ba gulidanö). Twins were born, a boy named Sadaŵa Mölö and a girl Sorai Zismö. They represent
the founder population of the humans (Niha) on Nias (Hämmerle 1990). In central and north Nias only
the name Siraso is used. In the south, besides her usual name Nandrua, additional poetic names are given
to her, e.g., Sibowo Döfi Madala, “flower of the morning sun”, Ina Sakao Dödö, “mother bearing misery”
(in the beginning when arriving on the island), Simadulo Hösi and Simadulo Rao Watua, i.e., symbolic
terms for giving birth, and finally Samihara Luo Gögömi, “sun lightning the dark” and Samihara Luo
Sambua, “the only sun”.

Written Records
Claudius Ptolemy (c. AD 87–150) was well aware of Sumatra and some of the other Barrier islands,
so it is reasonable to assume that Greek traders may have visited Nias, in the search for camphor and
other goods. In his historical introduction to Nias, Engelbertus Schröder (1917: 697) analyses the reports
collected by Gabriel Ferrand (1913–14). The oldest one is from Sulayman (AD 851), an Arab trader who
travelled several times to the region. He uses the name Niyān (“Ces îles ont dans leur dépendance d´autres
îles, parmi lesquelles est celle de Niyān”). Muḥammad al-Idrīsī (1154) mentions a variety of ethnic
groups; “Cette île est peuplée d´un grand nombre de tribus.” and writes that the Bataks [in contrast to
Nias people] are of dark skin “dont les habitants sont noir.” Johann William Thomas (1879) and Heinrich
Sundermann (1884) who were among the first missionaries on Nias, were also told of the existence of a
variety of ethnic groups. Their informants identify themselves as immigrants, i.e., ono Niha. They were
obviously highly motivated when recapitulating their own (Niha) genealogies but less so in recalling
details of their predecessors.

Chinese Influence on Nias

The ports of Sumatra opposite Nias are Barus, Singkuang and Natal [Fig. 1.1]. Sibolga was unimportant
as being far back in a bay surrounded by steep mountain sides. Before the arrival of the Portuguese and
Dutch, Chinese traders were widespread in the archipelago. In the estuary of the river Batanggadis on
the west coast of Northern Sumatra the Chinese occupied Muaralabuh in 1416 and founded a harbor and
shipyard (Mangaradja Onggang Parlindungan 1964). Chinese trade and settlements are documented on

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 Ingo Kennerknecht, Johannes Maria Hämmerle and Roger M. Blench

Sumatra through ceramics dated to between the 10th and 16th century (Wade 2009: 252; Perret and Heddy
Surachman 2010; Erond L. Damanik and Edwards McKinnon this volume; Edwards McKinnon et al. this
volume). In Nias myths the Chinese are called gehai or kehai.

Archaeology
Archaeology in Nias has been limited. There have been four excavations, all of them in the cave Tögi
Ndrawa (near Gunung Sitoli); one by Yusuf Ernawan / University of Surabaya together with the Yayasan
Pusaka Nias (Nias Heritage Foundation) in 1999 (Hämmerle 2001: 136), two by the Archaeological
Institute of Medan (Ketut Wiradnyana et al. 2002; Ketut Wiradnyana 2003), and finally one by Forestier
in collaboration with Truman Simanjuntak and the Archaeological Institute of Medan (Forestier et al.
2005). But, besides documentation and dating of the megalith culture (e.g., Bonatz 2002, 2009) there has
been no systematic archaeological research on Nias and there is no archaeological evidence for Chinese
settlement on Nias.

The Peopling of Nias and Dispersal of Clans From the Perspective of Molecular Genetics

The Paternal Lines of Nias by Y-Chromosome Perspective

In the Nias collection, 14 SNPs of Y haplogroup O and 17 loci containing Y-STRs were studied (for
details see van Oven et al. 2011). Out of more than 900 blood and spit samples we selected 407 probes
from probands who were not consanguineous, at least up to the grandparents. This represents around
0.06 per cent of the total Nias population of 684,704 (Nias Dalam Angka 2001 [Statistical Yearbook of
Nias 2001]). All 407 Nias lineages belong to the major haplogroup O-M175. This haplogroup consists
of 15 sublineages from which only two very closely related sublineages, M119* and M110, are present
in the Nias sample. There is one other sample with the haplogroup O-M95*(xM88) but this is still a
sublineage of haplogroup O-M175. Notably, there is a strong north-south differentiation on Nias. In the
south O-M110 is the major haplogroup, whereas in the north only one of the two haplogroups, O-M119*,
is present [Fig. 1.5].
Such an extremely high frequency of O-M119 (which includes O-M110) is not found in the
surrounding populations, e.g., Sumatra (17.5 per cent), but is very common among Taiwanese aboriginals
(89.6 per cent) and frequent in the Karo Batak (a subpopulation of Sumatra) (45.5 per cent), Philippines
(41.0 per cent); Malaysian (30.8 per cent), Trobriand Islands (28.3 per cent), Javanese (27.3 per
cent), Nusa Tengara (22.6 per cent), and Balinese (18.1 per cent) (Bing Su et al. 1999; Karafet et al.
2005; Kayser et al. 2006; van Oven 2007). In a single patrilineal clan such a paternal bottleneck is a
consequence of being descendents of a single ancestor. Even more surprising is the finding that the STR-
marker variability is extremely reduced through all over the island. The diversity is even strikingly low
compared to most of the isolated Oceanian populations (van Oven et al. 2011). STR-markers are generally
very variable in the number of their repeats. Hence, they are good indicators for genetic diversity and
allow us to test samples in forensic applications for individual identity or for paternity testing.

The Maternal Lines of Nias in mtDNA Perspective

The maternal genetic history of Nias is more diverse than the paternal one but still less than in control
populations in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania. The most common haplogroup, Y2, is present in
all samples from Nias with an overall frequency of 40 per cent. This is the highest frequency for this
haplogroup so far reported. The haplogroup Y2 is next most often present in the Philippines (12.9 per
cent), Taiwanese indigenous peoples (9.5 per cent), Sumatra (6.7 per cent), combined sample from five
distinct regions (Trejaut et al. 2005; Hill et al. 2007). Y2 might be a signal for a mid-Holocene out-of-
Taiwan expansion (Hill et al. 2007).
Among the 17 other mitochondrial haplogroups B5b2 is noteworthy, as it is especially common in the
Si’ulu clan (32.5 per cent) but rare in the rest of Nias and outside, only reported in single individuals in

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 The Peopling of Nias

“Heaven”

- Kulö / Gulö

Fig. 1.5: Suggested migration of selected clans in their present area. Those areas included in our molecular genetic studies
are colored. Shown here are the Y-chromosomal haplotypes. Only two out of 15 common sublineages are present on
Nias. In the south the predominant haplogroup is O-M110 (red) with an admixture of the haplogroup O-M119* (yellow).
The overlapping area includes Sifalagö Gomo. In the North only one haplogroup is present at all! For details see text
(adopted and modified from Kennerknecht 2009).

Karo Batak / Sumatra and Korea (van Oven et al. 2011). In summary, all major Nias mtDNA haplogroups
are indicative of East Asian and Southeast Asian maternal ancestry.
For our studies, a set of around 20 genetic markers for the Y-chromosome and the mtDNA was taken.
From previous studies in Southeast Asia and East Asia it was known that these markers are found in
varying frequencies but are almost always present. On Nias the molecular genetic data reveal an extreme

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 Ingo Kennerknecht, Johannes Maria Hämmerle and Roger M. Blench

population bottleneck. Only two of these markers are present, as if the samples had been taken from just
two families. In addition, there is a strong north-south differentiation. In the north only one of the two
markers is present, as if all samples were from a highly consanguineous clan with two male founders and
a small group of female founders. Moreover, genetic diversity is dramatically reduced, which implies that
the bottleneck “event” is fairly recent. Individuals with frizzy hair do not significantly differ from other
Nias inhabitants, indicating they are not evidence of a Pleistocene heritage.
The samples are randomly taken from all major clans through all over Nias out of a population of
650,000. Only from Sirombu (west coast Nias; settled by members of the Daeli clan from the Idanoi
region and by members from the Hia clan from the Gomo area), the Hinako Islands (8–15km southwest
of Sirombu, settled by Buginese), and the Batu Islands (70–140km southeast of Teluk Dalam / south
coast Nias, settled by people from south Nias and the Gomo area but also by a minority of Buginese) are
samples missing [Fig. 1.4]. Beyond this we are not aware of any other selection bias.

Discussion and Conclusions

With significant gaps, the following chronological order of settlement on Nias is presumed. The presence
of humans on Nias is documented since at least 12,000 years BP (Forestier et al. 2005). As the DNA
probes are from the recent population we do not know the time-frame for this immigration. The oral
narratives stretch back around 600 years and refer to resident archaic foragers which are replaced by a
very small founder population of “real” humans coming from outside. The extremely reduced diversity
indicates that there was no time to accumulate a significant number of genetic variations.
These findings mean that a number of earlier hypotheses can effectively be discarded. Ernst
Denninger (1874) and Frederic Martin Schnitger (1939) proposed a potential homeland in Nagaland
(India, Burma) on the basis of “[…] similarities between their megalith cultures [which] are so striking
and so numerous that there can be no doubt of their relation”. Comparison with genetic data from this
region negates this hypothesis (Metspalu et al. 2004; Cordeaux et al. 2004; Sanghamitra Sahoo et al.
2006; Adimoolam Chandrasekar et al. 2009; Suvendu Maji et al. 2009).
A more credible match is the large scale migration of Austronesian-speaking people out of mainland
Asia or Taiwan 4000 years ago. The protagonists presume that this was driven by advanced farming
technologies and successive replacement of the indigenous population and establishing their culture and
language, the so-called Austronesian “package” (Blust 1984; Bellwood 1984, 2005; Gray et al. 2009).
Not all agree with this simple demographic model (Meacham 1984; Szabó and O’Connor 2004; Donohue
and Denham 2010; Spriggs 2011; Blench 2012) and recent proposals support a more nuanced history

Fig. 1.6: Typical stone and wood carvings of Nias “stack” crown (Photo: I. Kennerknecht, Museum Pusaka Nias).

10

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 The Peopling of Nias

of Island Southeast Asia. An increasing number of observations show that

linguistic evidence and genetic studies on domesticated plants and animals
point to multiple distinct migrations, delinking the spread of agriculture
and language (Hitomi Hongo et al. 2002; Kjær et al. 2004; Blench 2005;
Piper et al. 2009; Donohue and Denham 2010). The diversity in linguistic
and archaeological records may now allow a richer, multistage colonization
model (Karafet et al. 2010).
The extremely reduced genetic diversity on Nias seems to be unique in
Island Southeast Asia. The link with Taiwan and the Philippines is strong
and suggests that Nias was directly populated from this region by maritime
populations. Bernd Nothofer (1986) points to clear links between the so-
called “Barrier Islands” and the west coast of Sumatra, and his evidence
suggests that there was once a common population in this region with a
shared lexical heritage (possibly excepting Enggano). Given our recent
understanding of the rapid speed of Austronesian expansion (e.g., Spriggs
2011) this is quite credible. A small but intriguing piece of evidence is
the characteristic Nias “crown” shown in many wood and stone carvings
[Fig. 1.6]. The Ifugao people of Northern Luzon also made these tall,
ridged head-dresses on carved wooden figures [Fig. 1.7]. Since this is not
commonly found in Austronesian iconography, it does suggest strongly that
this is a trace of a more direct connection between the two areas.
Puzzles remain, however. What happened to the indigenous population?
Unless it was intentionally exterminated by the incoming ancestors of the
Nias people, it is most likely that an epidemic disease eliminated all but a
few remnant groups whose existence is remembered in oral traditions. As
an island that had only limited contact with the mainland for millennia,
the indigenous foragers would have had little resistance to disease. If the
Austronesian Nias did not intermarry with these residual foragers, then
there would be little or no trace of them, in terms of genetics.
Secondly, the Nias language is remarkably uniform throughout the
island, with little more than dialect variation. This is not what would be
expected after 4000 years of diversification. The language, therefore,
must have undergone massive leveling in the recent past and its prior
diversity eliminated. It is not unlikely that the migration from Sumatra of
the order of 500–600 years ago, recorded in oral tradition was responsible
for this. The ancestress mentioned in the songs and myths was a symbol
for the establishment of political domination by a mainland group, which
effectively eliminated political, cultural and linguistic diversity. However,
the existing language of Nias, rather than being displaced, was taken up by
the new elite and spread to every part of the island. A useful parallel to this
is the invasion of England by the Normans. French was the elite language
of the court in England for some time, but eventually English began to
dominate and eventually the descendants of the French invaders were
propagating the use of mainstream English and replacing strong varieties
of regional speech within England.
Did the visitors, Chinese or Malay, have any genetic impact on the
population of Nias? Present evidence suggests not, although this might
turn up with more intensive sampling and high resolution genetic signature.
The failure to intermarry with both residual foragers and incoming trader
Fig. 1.7: Wooden ancestor
groups, points to a very strict marital pattern which effectively made outside figure, Ifugao of Kiangan,
marriage extremely difficult and created an extreme paternal “bottleneck”, Philippines (Photo: R. Blench,
accounting for the idiosyncratic pattern of haplotypes seen today. Kiangan Museum).

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 Ingo Kennerknecht, Johannes Maria Hämmerle and Roger M. Blench

Further Work
Archaeology in Nias needs to clearly establish the antiquity of settlement of the island and the point
at which incoming Austronesian speakers arrived. They presumably spread gradually over the island
and this can be established through dated sites. However, there must also be evidence for the purported
migration from Sumatra that put in place the current ruling elites and which is recorded in oral traditions.
What is most striking, however, is the extreme genetic uniformity of the population, suggesting that the
original Austronesian migration consisted of a small nucleus of already similar individuals, who spread
and colonized the island, rather like, for example Vanuatu (Bedford et al. 2010). In Vanuatu, however,
the result was one of the most linguistically diverse nations on earth (Lynch 1981); in Nias the opposite
result was obtained. The challenge is to understand the reason for such different outcomes. The bottleneck
history of Nias should have an impact on the epidemiology of diseases. One might expect diseases with a
high prevalence on Nias but otherwise rare on the surrounding islands and vice versa. Thus a population-
based clinical genetic screening might further show that Nias is genetically unique.

Declaration
This is a joint project of the Nias Government through Nias Health Office, Nias Heritage Foundation
(Yayasan Pusaka Nias, YPN) and the Institute of Human Genetics, Münster, Germany. The procedure
is approved by the Nias Government / Health Office entitled “The characteristics of Niasans related to
the culture and community health” (reference no. 443 / 3898 / P2P, 3 June 2002) and by the local ethics
committee from the University of Münster, Germany (protocol no. 3XKenn1, 13 October 2003).

Acknowledgements
First of all we want to thank the many people from Nias for volunteering for the study and allowing us to
take their blood samples. The support of this project by the Nias Government, through Nias Health Office,
Nias Heritage Foundation (YPN) represented by the Bupati Nias Binahati Baeha, SH and Dr. Idaman
Zega, is highly appreciated. We want to thank all those who travelled with us to the villages and gave us
a great support when sampling and documenting the probes: Memories Dakhi, the chief of Puskesmas
Hiliweto Gidö, who accompanied us in the Idanoi area, Ibu Katarina Zai from Puskesmas Hiliweto Gidö
who accompanied us to most of the places, then Ama Erlis Mendröfa from Puskesmas Lölözasai, Bapak
Arofao Telaumbanua, the chief of Puskesmas Orahili Gomo, Bua’ölö La’ia, Ama Syukur, the chief of
Puskesmas Sifalagö Gomo, Yohanes Tafönaö, Kathechist Pastoran Katolik Gomo, Sr. Gertruda Fau
SCMM, director of the Polyclinic in Teluk Dalam, April Dakhi, A. Mk. and Dr. Ivolay Dakhi, both from
Puskesmas Teluk Dalam, Ama Devi Fau from the village Orahili Fau, Sriyana La’ia, bidan / midwife
in the village Orahili Fau, Ama Radi Zebua from the village Tumöri, Dr. Fatolosa P. Panjaitan, chief of
Puskesmas Lahewa, Yuslina Zalukhu from Puskesmas Lahewa, Ama Rollies Zalukhu from Lahewa, Ama
Sozi Abibus Baeha from Lahewa, Ir. Ottorius Harefa from Gunung Sitoli and Restu Wau from Fodo. All
the staff from the Museum Pusaka Nias did a great job in their administrative and secretarial support:
Nata’alui Duha, associate director MPN, Fabius Ndruru, secretary, Hatima Farasi, cashier, in charge
for medical affairs, Oktoberlina Telaumbanua and Arozanolo Gulö. We want to thank Jamil Djonie,
Gunungsitoli, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Rural Access and Capacity Building Project
(Nias-RACBP), and Earthquake and Tsunamie Emergency Support project (ETSP) [Asian Development
Bank (ADB) grant No. 002, INO Indonesia] and Dr. Thorsten Prinz, IVV Geowissenschaften / Zentrum
Digitale Medien (ZDM), University of Münster / Germany for providing the satellite maps. Finally, we
want to thank Dr. Walter Otto, Münster / Germany for bringing this topic to the attention of one of the
authors (I.K.).

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