New research on Easter Island’s indigenous population

New research on the fate of Easter Island’s indigenous population

University of Auckland research has challenged orthodox theories on the demise of Easter Island society.

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is famous for its 887 monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapa Nui people.

A new study published in the American periodical Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that significant changes in land use and population dynamics occurred prior to the arrival of Europeans. These shifts, however, were not in response to an environmental disaster, rather were the result of environmental constraints on the small 163 square km isolated island.

Professor Thegn Ladefoged of the School of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Arts is a Co-author of the report.

“The results of our research were really quite surprising to me. Indeed, in the past, we’ve published articles about how there was little evidence for pre-European-contact societal collapse,” Professor Ladefoged says.

The researchers analysed more than 400 obsidian artifacts from six sites around the island. In an attempt to understand and clarify the Easter Island timeline, the team focused primarily on three sites where they recovered large samples of artifacts and had good information on soil chemistry and climatic conditions.

Because obsidian absorbs water after being exposed to air, the researchers were able to measure the amount of water in the obsidian and determine when they were made. The scientists were then able to estimate land use and population increases and declines based on the number of tools made during each period.

The first site, on the northwest coast, showed an increase in population between 1220 and 1650 and then a rapid decline. This site was also prone to drought because of its location in the rain shadow of Terevaka volcano.

The second site in the interior of the island was wetter and less prone to drought but due to leaching had low soil fertility. The site showed an increase in use from 1200 to 1480 with steady use until 1705, before beginning to decline.

The third site, both rainy and fertile, showed an increase in use starting about 1250 and then fairly constant use until 1850.

Because Europeans didn’t arrive until 1722 the first two sites show that something was going wrong before their arrival. Researchers believe that the Rapa Nui people were struggling against the natural limitations of the islands ecology rather than environmental degradation.

“It is clear that people were reacting to regional environmental variation on the island before they were devastated by the introduction of European diseases and other historic processes,” Professor Ladefoged says.

As research on the island continues, Professor Ladefoged hopes to examine individual dwellings to understand the interaction between Easter Islands aboriginal people and their environment.

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