Researchers have found that the ancient natives of the isolated Easter Island in the Pacific journeyed thousands of miles by sea and eventually interbred with Native Americans, long before westerners ever set foot on the continent.

Easter Island is located in the middle of the vast Pacific, some 2,300 miles to the west of South America, and is known for its huge stone statues that sit there today. But the ancient Polynesians that inhabited the island — the Rapa Nui — evidently interbred with native South Americans between 1300 and 1500, according to genetic data on 27 Easter Island natives, according to Reuters.

The study found evidence of a gene flow between the two populations, suggesting an ocean migration route between the two lands, according to study leader Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas of the Center for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Although it is not clear who made the journey, the research team believes it was the Rapa Nui who went to South America and brought natives back with them. The team wants to do further studies to see if any Polynesian ancestry can be found in South Americans.

The Rapa Nui most likely spent weeks in wooden outrigger canoes traveling to South America and then returning to Easter Island — a very dangerous journey. It had tremendous effects on their genetics, with Rapa Nui only 75 percent Polynesian today versus 15 percent European and 10 percent Native American.

Researchers even found evidence of Polynesian excursions into Brazil, far beyond the western shores of the continent where they landed. The Rapa Nui would have had to either land on the western coast and trek inward or voyage around Tierra del Fuego to the south and up the eastern coast.