The earliest migrations from South America to the Caribbean began 5,800 years ago - not to the more southerly Lesser Antilles islands as many have supposed, but to the larger northernmost islands now known as Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. Analyses of more than 2,500 radiocarbon measurements from sites on 55 Caribbean islands completely contradict the 'stepping-stone' model which asserts a south-to-north settlement beginning on the smaller islands.
     The new findings suggest the first Caribbean settlers may have traveled hundreds of miles across open seas in single-hulled canoes.

Edited from UPI (19 December 2019)