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(It’s
Island Week 2 here at GSS, which means we’ll mostly be posting
about Islands. For about a week.)

Located in the south eastern Pacific Ocean, almost four thousand
kilometers from continental Chile, Easter Island - or locally
Rapa Nui - is one of the world’s http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Orthographic_projection_centred_over_Easter_Island.png
most isolated inhabited islands^{#fn:1″ rel=”footnote 1}, as well as one of the
world’s most fascinating archaeological sites.

http://mappic.org/fullsizePicture.php?pid=5705&r=GoogleEarth
alt="">
Photo of http://mappic.org/fullsizePicture.php?pid=5705&r=GoogleEarth
Rano Raraku Moai from http://mappic.org mappic.org

The human history of Easter Island probably began http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/53200?fulltext=true&print=yes#53362
somewhere between AD 300 and 1200 when people from the islands
west of here landed with the tools, animals and provisions to stay
for good. Although only http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=171 square kilometers in square miles&btnG=Search
171 km² in area, at the time Easter Island had
extensive forests, and the volcanic craters held drinking water -
which is an important feature on an island with no rivers.

alt="">

Rano Kau volcano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Osterinsel_Krater-Rano_Kao.jpg
Picture)

Somewhere between AD 1000 and 1500, the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapanui Rapanui began a
period of frantic construction of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Paaseiland_Kempeneers.jpg
enormous stone statues - the Moai, for which
Easter Island is world famous today. These enigmatic figures
represented the islander’s deified ancestors, and were mostly
placed near the coast, with their backs to the sea.

alt="">

Moai of Ahu Nau Nau, Anakena Beach (http://mappic.org/fullsizePicture.php?pid=5720&r=GoogleEarth
Picture)

Moai are hewn from the island’s volcanic rock id="fnref:2">#fn:2″ rel=”footnote 2, and the
largest Moai erected was almost http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=10 metres in feet&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
10 metres high and weighed 75 tonnes; their production and
transportation is considered a remarkable accomplishment.

alt="">

Moai of Ahu Tongariki (http://mappic.org/fullsizePicture.php?pid=5714&r=GoogleEarth
Picture)

887 Moai have been identified to date, however only a quarter
ever made it to one of the coastal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island#Ahu Ahu
platforms - nearly half of all Moai remain at a single site called
Rano Raraku, the volcanic crater where 95% were originally carved.
The landscape is littered with
397 Moai - some half-finished, some semi-submerged in
the earth through erosion, and others never even detached from the
rock.^{#fn:3″
rel=”footnote 3}

alt="">
alt="">

Rano Raraku crater,
Rano Raraku Moai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rano_Raraku_quarry.jpg Picture)

By the time explorers arrived here in the 18th Century, the
forests of the island had completely disappeared.
It’s unknown whether or not the Rapanui had used all the trees in
the construction of the Moai, or if some other ecological factor
was involved, but either way the islanders were now trapped - there
was no longer any wood available for making seaworthy canoes.

After this things began to go rapidly downhill for the
inhabitants of Easter Island. There followed a period of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangata_manu tribal wars,
raids by Peruvian slavers, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island#Destruction_of_society_and_population
epidemics of European diseases, and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamson-Balfour_Company conversion
of the entire island into a sheep farm. During this period much
Rapa Nui culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rongorongo was lost
forever, nearly all of the Moai were deliberately
toppled (probably by warring tribal factions), and by the
late 19th century only 111 of the indigenous people remained
alive.

Somehow, against all the odds, today there are several thousand
descendants of the surviving 111 Rapanui living on Easter Island -
which now has
sustainable forestry and the
longest runway in Polynesia (having been extended to function
as an emergency landing place for the U.S. Space Shuttle). The Moai
have returned too - many have been re-erected on their Ahus around
the island and one has even been http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ahu_Tahai.jpg given new
eyes.

alt="">

Moai at Ahu Akivi, unusual in not being on the coast, and
facing towards the sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ahu-Akivi-1.JPG Picture)

Read more about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island Easter Island
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai Moai at
Wikipedia.

Thanks to Josh, Adam, Reinhold and Didier.

1. Featured earlier in the week, Easter Island’s nearest inhabited
   neighbour is
   Pitcairn Island - 1,931 kilometers west of here. #fnref:1″ rev=”footnote ↩

2. Whilst most Moai were carved from easily worked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuff tuff, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoa_Hakananai’a Hoa
   Hakananai’a is one of just ten Moai that were carved from much
   harder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt basalt. #fnref:2″ rev=”footnote ↩

3. The biggest Moai ever carved also remains on the slopes of Rano
   Raraku, which at 21.6 metres tall and around 270 tonnes was
   probably impossible for the Rapanui to move. #fnref:3″ rev=”footnote ↩

Tags: , Easter, Island, week