{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T16:52:16Z","timestamp":1787763136263,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785283200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100011033","name":"Agencia Estatal de Investigaci\u00f3n","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RYC2024-048319-I"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RYC2024-048319-I"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100011033","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We investigate a type of lunar calendar known as lists of the \u2018nights of the moon\u2019, found throughout East Polynesia, including Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Using computational methods, we analyzed the lexical and structural divergence of 48 calendrical lists from all major archipelagos, each containing about 30 night names. Our results, presented as a rooted phylogenetic tree, show a split into two main groups: one including lists from Rapa Nui, Mangareva, and the Marquesas; the other comprising lists from New Zealand, Hawai\u2019i, the Cook Islands, the Austral Islands, Tahiti, and the Tuamotu. This result aligns with a recent alternative classification of East Polynesian languages into \u2018Distal\u2019 (Marquesan, Mangarevan, Rapanui) and \u2019Proximal\u2019 (M\u0101ori, Hawaiian, Tahitian, etc.) subgroups. Since both language and lunar calendars are symbolic systems passed down and changed within communities\u2014and given the geographic isolation of many archipelagos\u2014we interpret this correspondence as evidence that the early divergence of East Polynesian lunar calendars mirrors early population movements and language splits in the region.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0353287","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T17:25:17Z","timestamp":1785345917000},"page":"e0353287","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Computational analysis reveals historical trajectory of East Polynesian lunar calendars"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9952-2057","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Miguel","family":"Val\u00e9rio","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fabio","family":"Tamburini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michele","family":"Corazza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0353287.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511613678","volume-title":"Hawaiki, Ancestral Polynesia: An Essay in Historical Anthropology","author":"PV Kirch","year":"2001"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0353287.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1815","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1015876108","article-title":"High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia","volume":"108","author":"JM Wilmshurst","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A"},{"issue":"7877","key":"pone.0353287.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"522","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-021-03902-8","article-title":"Paths and timings of the peopling of Polynesia inferred from genomic networks","volume":"597","author":"AG Ioannidis","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353287.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1353\/ol.2021.0001","article-title":"East Polynesian Subgrouping and Homeland Implications Within the Northern Outlier\u2013East Polynesian Hypothesis","volume":"60","author":"WH Wilson","year":"2021","journal-title":"Oceanic Linguistics"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0353287.ref005","first-page":"39","article-title":"Polynesian languages: a subgrouping based on shared innovations in morphology","volume":"75","author":"A Pawley","year":"1966","journal-title":"J Polyn Soc"},{"key":"pone.0353287.ref006","first-page":"466","article-title":"The languages of Polynesia.","volume-title":"Current trends in linguistics","author":"B. 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