In many ways its just another Polynesian island, created by volcanoes, hosting flora and fauna that came from distant lands and adapted to the island after it was formed at least hundreds of thousands of years ago, and eventually became populated by humans during their eastward migration from Asia. But if that were all there was to Easter Island, then it would certainly get lost among the rest of the South Pacific islands, overshadowed by others with better beaches, longer anthropological histories and easier accessibility. But Easter stands out from the pack. It is one of the remotest inhabited places on the planet, it has a story about exploitation of resources, it has an interesting name and, oh, yes, there are the strange carved stone “heads”.
Easter offers an opportunity to delve beneath the surface and face what it means to struggle for existence and to survive… if you as a visitor are willing to accept the challenge. Go. Visit the Moai (statues of carved heads), note how photogenic they are (especially at sunrise and sunset), and puzzle over the various methods that have been proposed for their transport. Learn about the extinction of some tree and bird species and about how much of it was the direct result of actions of the islanders. And then, if you want to, delve deeper and challenge yourself to view the Rapanui journey through your own eyes. What would it have been like, to sail with a small band of people to a new land, isolated from all neighbors, to adapt to the flora and fauna of the island, to try to find meaning to your life, carving idols to maintain a connection with your ancestors and perhaps provide you with peace and comfort, and above all… survive. Would your band have made a better go of things?
Yes, the Rapanui made mistakes… big mistakes. Any way that you look at it, and no matter whose version of history you believe, they exploited to extinction resources which were helping to make their lives easier. Birds were a prime source of food until they stopped migrating to Easter or went extinct. When all of the trees were used up (including the largest species of palm tree in the world), they could no longer build canoes to go out deep water fishing for larger fish and porpoises or build more efficient fires.
But before you rule them entirely guilty, you should know that they had some serious handicaps, including palm tree seed eating rats, Peruvian slavers, a joint Scottish/Chilean nitrate and sheep farming company that took over the island in 1903 named the “Easter Island Exploitation Company” (no kidding!), and, of course, simple human nature. In fact, their history reads so much like a version of “The Lord of the Flies” that I wonder if Easter was an influence for William Golding.
If you are interested in digging deeper, I suggest reading:
“Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” by Jared Diamond and “A Companion to Easter Island” by James Grant-Peterkin
Interesting Facts about Easter Island:
- Easter Island is 2,300 miles off the coast of Chile, and 1,300 miles from its nearest neighbor island (the Pitcairns).
- The island is called Rapa Nui by the locals. It got is name “Easter Island” by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen who “discovered” it on Easter, 1722. (Side note: That’s how Christmas Island got its name, too.)
- The statues (Moai) are often found on platforms (ahu). The platforms hold the remains of people.
- Almost all of the Moai were carved from one mountain at Rano Raraku, which provides the best volcanic stone for this use.
- The Moai were carved and chipped away using stone knives, picks, drills and hammers; many of which were found strewn around the quarry, as if the workers had dropped them for lunch and never returned.
- How the carved Moai were then transported across the island to their various ahu, is still a mystery. The local legend has it that they walked.
- One reason that the transportation system was initially a mystery is that when Easter Island was discovered by Europeans, it was bereft of trees. Realizing that moving the large statues would require some system involving wood and not finding any, the Europeans were perplexed.
- Easter Island has far fewer species of fish than other Polynesian islands: 127, compared with a thousand on, say, Fiji.
- We know now through DNA analysis that like all Pacific Islands, Easter Island was populated by peoples coming for the West (Asia), not the East (South America). This made the travel more difficult, since the prevailing winds are from East to West.
- Early anthropologists such as Heyerdahl were convinced that no Polynesian culture could have created the moai, and that the Easter Island inhabitants must have come from advanced South American Indians, who in turn must have come from even more advanced societies of the Old World (Europe).
- Due to the migration also of crops and livestock, anthropologists are now content that the population of these islands was the result of planned migrations, not of accidental drift voyages. Canoes accidental drifting to new islands would not have been carrying products of their homelands that would be essential to the survival of a new colony.
- While they were searching for new homelands, these migrators would have utilized their knowledge of the feeding habits of land birds, and would have been able to trail them back to their roosts. This would increase the chance of finding a 9 by 15 mile island; giving them a target diameter of about 100 miles instead.
- Based on radiocarbon dating of wood charcoal and porpoise bones, Easter Island was probably occupied around 900 A.D.
- Easter Island used to be home to the largest species of palm tree (up to 7 feet in diameter).
Some of the visitors to the sunset at Tahai, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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The Tahai Moai is the most popular location to enjoy the sunset on Easter Island. Hundreds gather sprawled out on the lawn waiting for the sun to sink behind the horizon with the iconic moia serving as a silhouette in the foreground.
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Head to the link in my profile for more information about Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
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Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #tahai #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark #ParqueNacionalRapaNui #isledepascua #sunset #sunsettahai #tahaisunset #ahutahai
Sunset at Tahai, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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The Tahai Moai is the most popular location to enjoy the sunset on Easter Island. Hundreds gather sprawled out on the lawn waiting for the sun to sink behind the horizon with the iconic moia serving as a silhouette in the foreground.
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Head to the link in my profile for more information about Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
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Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #tahai #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark #ParqueNacionalRapaNui #isledepascua #sunset #sunsettahai #tahaisunset #ahutahai
Sunset at Tahai, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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The Tahai Moai is the most popular location to enjoy the sunset on Easter Island. Hundreds gather sprawled out on the lawn waiting for the sun to sink behind the horizon with the iconic moia serving as a silhouette in the foreground.
.
Head to the link in my profile for more information about Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
.
Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #tahai #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark #ParqueNacionalRapaNui #isledepascua #sunset #sunsettahai #tahaisunset #ahutahai
Rano Raraku (the quarry) showing the holes left after some moai were carved out of the mountain.
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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Rano Raraku is the quarry where almost all of the moai (statues) were carved before being transported across the island for various clans. .
Head to the link in my profile for more information about Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
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Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #ranoraraku #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark #ParqueNacionalRapaNui #isledepascua
The giant: a large moai at Rano Raraku (the quarry) that was never completely removed from the mountain
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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This would have been one of the largest moai to be placed... if it had been finished and had survived its trip across the island. It is one of the many moai which were partially carved at the quarry, but were never completed.
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Head to the link in my profile for more information about Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
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Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #ranoraraku #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark #ParqueNacionalRapaNui #isledepascua
A Moai at Rano Raraku (the quarry) that was never completely removed from the mountain
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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This is one of the many moai which were partially carved at the quarry, but were never completed.
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Head to the link in my profile for more information about Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
.
Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #ranoraraku #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark #ParqueNacionalRapaNui #isledepascua
The Moai at Tongariki
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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These are the Moai that were stood back up on their platform (Ahu). This picture was taken at sunrise. Tongariki has special exemption to be open for sunrise viewing. It‘s a magical moment.
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Head to the link in my profile for more details about the moai, Tongariki and Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
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Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #tongariki #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #tongarikisunrise #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark
#ahutongariki #ahutongariki🗿
A Moai at Rano Raraku (the quarry)
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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This is one of the many moai which were carved at the quarry, but were never transported to their intended destination. This one looks to be completed (except for the eyes, which were always inserted once the moai had traveled to their destination.
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Head to the link in my profile for more information about Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
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Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #ranoraraku #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark #ParqueNacionalRapaNui #isledepascua
I‘m starting to fit in.
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
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I was just trying to see what he’s been looking at all these years.
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Head to the link in my profile for more information about Easter Island! @mytravels.hdf
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Picture taken: 10/2018
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#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #ranoraraku #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark
Moai at Rano Raraku (the quarry)
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
.
These are some of the many moai which were carved at the quarry, but were never transported to their intended destination. These look to be completed (except for the eyes, which were always inserted once the moai had traveled to their destination.
.
Head to the link in my profile for more details: @mytravels.hdf
.
Picture taken: 10/2018
.
#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #ranoraraku #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark
A Moai at Rano Raraku (the quarry)
Location: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
.
This is one of the many moai which were carved at the quarry, but were never transported to their intended destination. This one looks to be completed (except for the eyes, which were always inserted once the moai had traveled to their destination.
.
Head to the link in my profile for more details: @mytravels.hdf
.
Picture taken: 10/2018
.
#Rapanui #EasterIsland #Moai #ranoraraku #StatueEasterIsland #moais #rapanui🗿 #statue #southpacific #rapanuinationalpark
