FAMED for their epic navigational feats, the Polynesians may have sailed a lot farther than anyone suspected. Two researchers have found limited but intriguing evidence that suggests these mariners made it to Southern California between AD 400 and AD 800.
While they were here, they passed along their boat-building technology to the local Chumash and Gabrielino Indians, according to Terry Jones, anthropology professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Kathryn Klar, a UC Berkeley lecturer, whose research appeared in the peer-reviewed journal American Antiquity.
