New theory emerges over the mystery of Easter Island
SOCIETY on Easter Island might not have collapsed after all, according to analysis of tools used to make its famous giant stone head statues.
The remote island 2,300 miles off the coast of Chile has long been seen as mysterious.
It has been presumed that Polynesian seafarers set up camp, built the giant statues and then destroyed their own society through in-fighting and over-exploitation of natural resources.
But new research, published in the Journal of Pacific Archaeology, suggests a more complex story.
By analysing the chemical make-up of the tools used to create the stone sculptures, archaeologists found evidence of a sophisticated society where the people shared information and collaborated.
Study co-author Dr Laure Dussubieux, of The Field Museum of Natural History in the United States, said: “For a long time, people wondered about the culture behind these very important statues.
“This study shows how people were interacting, it’s helping to revise the theory.”
The first people arrived on Easter Island about 900 years ago and the founding population grew to form the complex society that carved the statues Easter Island is known for today.
These statues or moai – often referred to as “Easter Island heads” – are actually full-body figures that became partially buried over time.
The moai, which represent important Rapa Nui ancestors, number nearly a thousand, and the largest is over 70 feet tall.
Dale Simpson Jr, an archaeologist from the University of Queensland in Australia, believes the “certain level of socio-political organisation needed to carve almost a thousand statues” contradicts the popular narrative that Easter Island’s inhabitants ran out of resources and warred themselves into extinction.
He said: “There’s so much mystery around Easter Island, because it’s so isolated, but on the island, people were, and still are, interacting in huge amounts.”
While the society was later decimated by colonists and slavery, Rapa Nui culture has persisted.
Mr Simpson added: “There are thousands of Rapa Nui people alive today – the society isn’t gone.”