Easter Island: what to learn from the Puzzles?

AuthorJones, David T.

Editor's Note: The author, who has been published frequently by American Diplomacy, returned recently from a visit to Easter Island and discusses below some of the theories about that mysterious South Pacific isle. He seeks to tie his piece to what he terms "global warming/environment catastrophe-in-the-making discussions," on which he casts doubt.--Contrib. Ed.

It is always tempting to generalize from a particular. Thus a personal experience as a parent, a soldier, a citizen, or a scientist allows one to project "rules" and conclusions arguably applicable to all parents, military personnel, etc. Likewise, when one is grinding an ideological ax, it is tempting to seize the facts that fit the conclusions you are advancing. And, if the society that you are examining is small, e.g., Easter Island, it is even more tempting to advance its special circumstances as a paradigm for ostensible global concerns.

Geographically, Easter Island (or Rapa Nui as it is known to native inhabitants) is a volcanic origin flyspeck in the middle of nowhere. At nine miles wide (sixty-six square miles of territory) and located 2,200 miles west of the South American continent, it is physically inconsequential. It was discovered as far as Europeans were concerned by Dutch sailors on Easter Day in 1722 (hence its name) and then forgotten for the next fifty years. Several brief subsequent visits, measured in days or even in hours, left sketchy archival records of inhabitants reportedly of three types (with dark, light, and red skins) and large numbers of dramatic stone statues. Repeated visits resulted in reports of more and more of the statues toppled and fewer inhabitants.

As Easter Island's experience with Europeans extended, the results for its inhabitants became more invidious. Slavers abducted approximately 1,000 to 1,500 of the Rapa Nuians, including a majority of the island's elite. When a handful of these slaves finally was freed and returned to Easter Island, they brought diseases that further reduced the island's population. And, while the islanders' souls doubtless benefited from the presence of Christian priests, the unique Rapa Nuian "Rongo Rongo" written texts were virtually all destroyed as pagan writings, leaving only untranslatable fragments in modern museums--and frustrated arguments over whether they are a language at all.

The consequences of the virtual annihilation of the original Easter Island population are questions akin to those you might like to ask your now long dead great grandparents. All of the "who, what, when, where, why" queries beloved by media have remained in play for several centuries. Who are the Rapa Nuians? Where did they come from? Why did most of them die even without benefit of European intervention? Who made the massive stone statues and how were they carved? How did they get to their current locations? And what happened to the island either to deforest it and/or to reduce...

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