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Archaeologists Develop First 3D Model of Easter Island’s Primary Moai Quarry

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Evidence from ethnohistory and recent archaeology indicates that Easter Island (Rapanui) had a politically decentralized structure, organized into small kin-based communities that operated with a degree of autonomy throughout the island. This raises significant questions regarding the over 1,000 monumental statues (moai). Was the production process at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, centrally managed, or did it reflect the decentralized patterns observed on the island? Archaeologists utilized a dataset of more than 11,000 UAV images to create the first comprehensive three-dimensional model of a quarry to examine these competing hypotheses.

3D model of Rano Raraku quarry. Image credit: Lipo et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0336251.

The monumental Moai of Easter Island stand as one of the most remarkable archaeological achievements in Polynesia, with over 1,000 megalithic statues spread across the volcanic isle, which is just 100 miles long.2

This significant investment in monumental architecture seems paradoxical when compared to ethnohistorical records that consistently depict Rapa Nui society as composed of relatively small, rival kin-based groups rather than a centralized polity.

Early ethnographers described a sociopolitical environment with numerous matas (clans or tribes) maintaining distinct territorial boundaries, independent ceremonial centers, and autonomous leadership structures.

This leads to the question of whether the construction of the moai was similarly decentralized.

In a recent study, Professor Carl Lipo from Binghamton University and his team compiled over 11,000 images of Rano Raraku, a key moai quarry, and developed a detailed 3D model of the site, which includes hundreds of moai at various stages of completion.

“For archaeologists, quarries are like an archaeological Disneyland,” Professor Lipo stated.

“Everything you can imagine about the making of a moai is represented here, as most of the crafting was performed directly on site.”

“This has always been a goldmine of information and cultural significance, yet it remains greatly under-documented.”

“The rapid advancement in technology is astounding,” noted Dr. Thomas Pingel of Binghamton University.

“The quality of this model surpasses what was achievable just a few years ago, and the ability to share such a detailed model accessible from anyone’s desktop is exceptional.”

In-depth analysis of the model revealed 30 distinct quarrying centers, each exhibiting different carving techniques, indicating multiple independent working zones.

There is also evidence of the moai being transported in various directions from the quarry.

These observations imply that moai construction, like the broader societal structure of Rapa Nui, lacked central organization.

“We are observing individualized workshops that cater specifically to different clan groups, focusing on particular areas,” said Professor Lipo.

“From the construction site, you can visually identify that specific groups created a series of statues together, indicating separate workshops.”

This finding challenges the prevalent assumption that such large-scale monument production necessitates a hierarchical structure.

The similarities among the moai appear to be the result of shared cultural knowledge rather than collaborative efforts in carving the statues.

“Much of the so-called ‘Rapanui mystery’ arises from the scarcity of publicly available detailed evidence that would empower researchers to assess hypotheses and formulate explanations,” stated the researchers.

“We present the first high-resolution 3D model of the Rano Raraku Moai Quarry, the key site for nearly 1,000 statues, offering new perspectives on the organization and manufacturing processes behind these massive megalithic sculptures.”

Findings are detailed in an article published in the Online Journal on November 26, 2025 in PLoS ONE.

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CP Lipo et al. 2025. Production of megalithic statues (moai) at Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile). PLoS One 20 (11): e0336251; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0336251

Source: www.sci.news

Easter Island Statues Possibly Built by Independent Small Groups

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Moai Statues of Easter Island

Maurizio De Mattei/Shutterstock

The grand stone statues of Easter Island may have originated from diverse artistic and spiritual traditions, where multiple communities independently created their own massive carvings, rather than through a centralized effort led by a powerful ruler. This revelation aims to better identify the island’s primary quarries.

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, located in the Pacific Ocean, is believed to have been settled by Polynesian navigators around 1200 AD.

Archaeological observations indicate that the Rapa Nui were not politically unified, prompting discussions on whether the numerous moai statues were produced under a centralized authority.

The island had only one quarry, Rano Raraku, that provided the volcanic rock utilized for the statue carvings.

Curl Lipo and his team at Binghamton University in New York employed drones and advanced mapping technology to develop the first 3D representation of the quarry, which holds many incomplete moai. Lipo noted that earlier studies yielded varying results regarding the number of moai remaining at the site.

Lipo and his associates documented 426 features representative of the moai at different completion stages, 341 grooves indicating the planned carving blocks, 133 carved cavities for removing the statues, and five bollards likely used for lowering the moai into position.

It was also noted that the quarry was divided into 30 distinct working areas, each functioning independently with various carving methods, according to Lipo.

The idea that small factions of workers may have relocated the moai statues, along with prior evidence of separate territories marked by groups at freshwater sources, hints that the statue carvings stemmed from community-level competition rather than centralized governance, Lipo explained.

“Monumentalism signifies a competitive display among peer communities instead of top-down mobilization,” he stated.

Historians continue to discuss the alleged decline of the Rapa Nui, with some contending that resource over-exploitation resulted in a severe social breakdown, while others challenge this narrative.

Lipo argues that the collapse theory presumes a centralized leadership pushed for monument construction, leading to deforestation and social disintegration. “However, if monuments are decentralized and arise from community competition rather than intentional expansion, then deforestation cannot be attributed to egotistical leadership,” Lipo comments.

Nevertheless, some researchers are skeptical about this perspective. Dale Simpson, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, concurs there wasn’t a singular overarching chief as seen in other Polynesian regions such as Hawaii and Tonga; however, he suggests clans were not as isolated as proposed by Lipo and others, indicating there must have been collaboration among the groups.

“I think they’ve had a bit too much Kool-Aid and haven’t fully considered the limiting factors in a confined area like Rapa Nui, where stone is paramount. It’s not feasible to carve moai within a single clan without interaction and stone-sharing,” he notes.

Jo Ann Van Tilburg from the University of California, Los Angeles, mentioned that further investigations are in progress to ascertain how the Rapa Nui exploited Rano Raraku, asserting that the conclusions drawn by Lipo’s team appear “premature and overstated.”

Machu Picchu and the Science of the Incas: Peru

Immerse yourself in the vital ruins of the Inca civilization with two visits to Machu Picchu, and discover that the tale of the Incas encompasses much more than just one location.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Research Suggests Invasive Polynesian Rat Contributed Significantly to Easter Island Deforestation

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The ecological shifts experienced on Easter Island (Rapanui) represent one of the most illustrative yet contentious examples in environmental archaeology. This discussion centers around the Polynesian rat (brown rat) amid the island’s deforestation, an event that wiped out an estimated 15 million to 19.7 million palm trees, specifically the palm tree (pashalococcos disperta) between approximately 1200 and 1650 AD.

Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui to its early inhabitants, is one of the least populated islands in the world. It is located approximately 3,512 km from the west coast of Chile and about 2,075 km west of the nearest inhabited island, Pitcairn Island. For reasons still unclear, the early Rapa Nui people began carving giant statues from volcanic rock. These monumental statues, known as moai, are among the most remarkable ancient artifacts discovered. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Prior to human settlement, Rapa Nui was dominated by large palm trees of now-extinct varieties, including the Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chillensis).

These majestic trees can survive for up to 500 years, but are slow-growing, taking around 70 years to mature and bear fruit.

By the time Europeans arrived in 1722, very few palm trees remained. When European interest in the island’s ecosystem peaked, these trees had largely disappeared.

“European accounts often describe islands devoid of trees, yet they also mention palm trees and their fronds,” notes Carl Lipo, a professor at Binghamton University.

“It’s uncertain whether they used this term to denote other types of trees.”

When exploring new islands, Polynesians transported various subsistence items such as taro, sweet potatoes, bananas, yams, dogs, chickens, and pigs, along with the omnipresent Polynesian rat.

In contrast to the Norway rat (brown rat), which was introduced post-European contact and favors the tree canopy, this smaller arboreal species provides a wealth of information for researchers.

“Their genetics showcase unique haplotypes due to the ‘founder effect’,” explains Professor Lipo.

“The genetic diversity of rats as they traverse the Pacific allows us to trace human migrations and the frequency of these settlements.”

The methods by which these rats entered Polynesian outrigger canoes is debated. Were they stowaways or intentionally included as a backup food source? Ethnographic evidence leans toward the latter.

“After European arrival, a naturalist collecting specimens for the British Museum witnessed a man walking with a mouse, who informed him it was for lunch.”

Additionally, rat bones have been uncovered in midden deposits, or ancient refuse piles, on various Pacific islands.

Upon their arrival at Rapa Nui around 1200 AD, the rats discovered a predator-free paradise filled with their preferred foods.

Their population surged into the millions within a few years, as they can breed multiple times annually.

“The palm fruit was like candy to the rats. They turned into a significant food source,” Professor Lipo commented.

Rapa Nui’s palm trees had coevolved with birds and did not develop the boom-and-bust production cycle that would have enabled some nuts to withstand rodent exploitation.

As a result, rats consumed the palm fruit, preventing the next generation of trees from establishing.

Simultaneously, humans cleared land for sweet potato fields. This dual pressure led to the deforestation now characteristic of the island.

Alongside plants and animals, Polynesians also incorporated practices such as slash-and-burn agriculture to enhance soil fertility.

Old volcanic islands like Rapa Nui possess poor soil, and rainfall depletes nutrients.

Clearing or burning parts of the forest temporarily rejuvenates soil quality.

Once nutrients are exhausted, farmers relocate, the land recuperates, and trees regrow.

“This pattern is also observable in New Guinea and other regions across the Pacific,” Professor Lipo mentions.

“However, in Rapa Nui, the slow growth of trees and the rats consuming coconuts inhibited regrowth.”

Eventually, the islanders shifted to a farming technique that utilized stone mulch to enrich their crops.

While the reduction of palm forests marked a significant ecological transformation, it was not a disaster solely orchestrated by humans.

The islanders’ survival did not hinge on the palm trees; rather, it depended on the availability of cleared land for agriculture.

Moreover, palms are not hardwoods; they belong to the grass family and do not provide material for canoes, homes, or fuel.

“The loss of palm forests is unfortunate, yet it wasn’t catastrophic for the people,” states Professor Lipo.

“They didn’t rely on them for survival.”

Though some palms may have persisted into European colonization, the introduction of sheep farming in the 19th century likely sealed their extinction, as any remaining seedlings would be consumed by sheep.

Ironically, the Polynesian mouse suffered a similar fate to the palm trees, being outcompeted by Norway rats or predated by non-native species like hawks on most islands.

Despite changes in species, islanders still discuss the rodents’ cyclical population booms and severe declines.

The narrative of Rapa Nui exemplifies unintended consequences as well as resilience and adaptability in one of the most remote inhabited islands, with its closest neighbor situated 1,931 km (1,200 miles) away.

“A more nuanced perspective on environmental change is essential,” says Professor Lipo.

“We are integral to the natural world and often modify it for our benefit; however, this does not necessarily imply we are creating an unsustainable environment.”

Findings from this study will be published in the archeology journal.

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Terry L. Hunt and Carl P. Lipo. 2025. Re-evaluating the role of Polynesian rats (brown rat) in the deforestation of Rapa Nui (Easter Island): Faunal evidence and ecological modeling. archeology journal 184: 106388; doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106388

Source: www.sci.news

Genetic study uncovers ancient Easter Islander’s resilience and connections to pre-European contact in the Americas

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Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is one of the most isolated inhabited places in the world. Its archaeological record, including megalithic statues, has captured the imagination of many. Two major controversies have emerged from extensive study of the island. First, its history is presented as a cautionary tale of overexploitation of resources leading to a large-scale population decline – the “ecocide” theory. Second, the possibility of a voyage across the Pacific Ocean to the Americas before European contact is still debated. To answer these questions, a team of scientists from the Globe Institute and elsewhere sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 15 Rapa Nui people who lived between 1670 and 1950.

Rapa Nui people. Image courtesy of © Santiago Caruso.

Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world.

It lies at the easternmost tip of the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean, 3,700 km west of South America and over 1,900 km east of the nearest inhabited island.

Despite Rapa Nui's remote location, archaeological and genetic evidence indicates that Polynesians from the west had already arrived on the island around 1250 AD.

Over the next five centuries, Rapa Nui's inhabitants, the Rapanui, developed a culture characterized by iconic colossal stone statues (moai) and monumental stone platforms (ahu).

Due to Rapa Nui's isolation, Europeans did not reach the island until 1722 AD.

Over the years, European visitors have had a devastating impact on Rapa Nui, killing locals and introducing deadly pathogens the islanders had never encountered before.

Moreover, a third of the population was kidnapped by Peruvian slave raiders in the 1860s, and only a small proportion were repatriated following international condemnation of slavery.

A smallpox epidemic subsequently decimated Rapanui's population, down to an estimated 110 people.

“It is well known that Rapa Nui's environment was affected by human activities such as deforestation, but it was unknown whether and how these changes led to a dramatic population decline,” said Dr Anna Saffo Malaspinas, a researcher at the University of Lausanne and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.

The Tahitian warrior's shelter from Giulio Ferrario's Le Costume Ancien et Moderne, Milan, 1816-1827.

The authors studied the genomes of 15 ancient inhabitants who lived on the island over the past 500 years.

They found no evidence of a genetic bottleneck corresponding to the 17th century collapse.

The analysis suggests that the island was originally inhabited by a small number of people, but its population grew steadily until Peruvian slave raids in the 1860s forced a third of the island's population to relocate.

Furthermore, the analysis showed that, like modern-day Rapa Nui people, the ancient islanders also carried Native American DNA.

This mixing probably occurred sometime between 1250 and 1430 AD.

Taken together with archaeological evidence and oral history, the find suggests that Polynesians may have been crossing the Pacific long before Europeans arrived on Rapa Nui and long before Columbus reached the Americas.

“Our genetic analysis shows that there was a steady population growth from the 13th century until contact with Europeans in the 18th century,” said Dr Barbara Souza da Mota, a researcher at the University of Lausanne.

“This stability is extremely important because it directly contradicts the idea of ​​a dramatic pre-contact population decline.”

“We investigated how Native American DNA is distributed in the genetic background of Rapa Nui Polynesians,” said Dr Victor Moreno Mayar, a researcher at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

“This distribution is consistent with contact occurring between the 13th and 15th centuries.”

“Our study doesn't tell us where this contact occurred, but it may mean that the ancestors of the Rapanui reached the Americas before Christopher Columbus,” Dr Malaspinas said.

of Survey results Published in a journal Nature.

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JV Moreno Mayal others2024. Ancient Rapanui genome reveals resilience and pre-European contact with the Americas. Nature 633, 389-397;doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07881-4

Source: www.sci.news

The ancient inhabitants of Easter Island journeyed to South America

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The famous Moai statues of Easter Island

Tero Hakala/Shutterstock

DNA analysis of ancient ruins on Easter Island has revealed that the population was actually growing when Europeans arrived, rather than plummeting as some history books have reported.

The findings also indicate that there was contact between the inhabitants of this island and those of South America long before the arrival of Europeans. This island and its people are also known as Rapa Nui.

Located in the Pacific Ocean 3,500 km from South America, Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated inhabited islands on Earth. Polynesians first settled here around 1200 AD, when palm forests covered 164 square kilometers of the island.

By the time Europeans arrived in 1722, rats and excessive logging had almost completely destroyed the vegetation, and the island’s history has often been portrayed as an example of the unsustainable exploitation of ecosystems and their subsequent collapse after human population growth.

The researchers worked closely with representatives of the Rapa Nui community, and one of their aims was to verify that the people on display at the museum were in fact from the island, as efforts to repatriate remains are underway, led by modern residents.

The findings showed that 15 people who died in the past 500 years were from Rapa Nui.

Populations that are experiencing bottlenecks due to population decline will show signals in their DNA that indicate reduced genetic diversity, Moreno-Mayer said.

“We use statistical methods that allow us to reconstruct the genetic diversity of the Rapa Nui population over the past few thousand years,” he says, “and intriguingly, we find no evidence of the dramatic population decline around 1600 that would be predicted by collapse theory.”

Instead, the findings suggest that Rapa Nui’s population grew steadily until the 1860s, when slave traders abducted hundreds of islanders and many more died in a smallpox epidemic.

The study also identified regions of DNA in the ancient Rapa Nui genome that were of Native American origin, and the analysis suggests that mixing between these populations occurred around the 1300s.

“Our interpretation is that the ancestors of Rapa Nui first settled on the island and then returned to the Americas shortly thereafter,” Moreno-Mayer says.

Previous studies have also cast doubt on the idea of population decline. Carl Lipo The researcher, from New York’s Binghamton University, said it was
“fantastic” to see that a completely independent body of evidence points to the same conclusion his team reached in a paper published earlier this year using radiocarbon and archaeological evidence.

He said the research confirmed that the island was inhabited by people who lived resilient and successful lives before Europeans arrived.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New Research Challenges Easter Island Population Decline Theory

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Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is often held up as an example where overexploitation of limited resources led to catastrophic population declines. A key element of this story is that the rapid rise and fall in pre-contact Rapa Nui population growth rates was caused by the construction and overexploitation of once-extensive rock gardens. However, the extent of rock gardens across the island, important for understanding food systems and demographic dynamics, needs to be better understood. New research by archaeologists from Binghamton University and Columbia University shows that the extent of this agricultural infrastructure was significantly smaller than previously claimed, and likely could not have supported the large populations assumed.

Map of Easter Island and its location in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. Image courtesy of Davis. others., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ado1459.

In their study, Professor Carl Lipo of Binghamton University and his colleagues used modern techniques to more accurately estimate the number of rock gardens on Easter Island and their pre-human contact food production.

“This volcanic island was formed by an eruption a million years ago, so there has been enough time for rain to wash away the potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen needed for plant growth,” Professor Lipo said.

“Salty sea spray further reduces soil fertility.”

“The soils on Rapa Nui were not particularly productive. When people arrived on the island, they had to deal with those constraints.”

“Their first method was slash-and-burn agriculture, which involved cutting down the trees on the island.”

“This temporarily restored nutrients to the soil, but once the trees died, islanders turned to other methods, such as composting plant waste and rock mulch.”

“The fertilization benefits from composting are not enough to support a culture's food supply. Rock mulch was sufficient, but it was a very labor-intensive process.”

“The islanders chipped away some of the exposed bedrock and mixed the stone chunks into the soil, restoring nutrients and protecting the soil from further weathering.”

Rock mulch has also been traditionally used by the Maori people of New Zealand, Native Americans in the American Southwest, and in other areas such as the Netherlands.

“We do it ourselves using non-organic fertilizers. We basically use machinery to break the rocks into smaller pieces, which is more effective because it creates a larger surface area,” Professor Lipo said.

“The Rapa Nui people are literally breaking rocks by hand and burying them in the soil.”

“The gardens also grow dryland taro and yams, but the main crops are dozens of varieties of sweet potato. But not all rockeries are ancient gardens,” said Dr Robert DiNapoli from Binghamton University.

But how many gardens were there on Easter Island? When Europeans first encountered the island, they reported that 10 percent of the island was covered in gardens. Researchers have previously used satellite imagery to map the rock gardens, but this has resulted in misidentifications of things like roads.

Rapa Nui is one of the most remote human settlements on Earth, more than 2,000 km from the nearest inhabited island (Pitcairn Island) and more than 3,700 km from the South American mainland. The island is small (164 km2) and has relatively limited soil productivity and freshwater sources. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

The study authors used shortwave infrared (SWIR) satellite imagery and machine learning to come up with a more precise estimate, finding that the area covered by mulch is about 180 acres, far less than previously thought.

“SWIR imagery, primarily used for geological mapping, can distinguish mineral composition and water content,” said Dr. Dylan Davis, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University.

“Due to unique mineralogical characteristics and moisture patches, the rock gardens stand out from their surroundings.”

Using the latest estimates of the number of gardens, the researchers calculated that around 3,000 people lived on Easter Island at the time of European contact.

The oldest European records indicate a population of between 3,000 and 4,000, which is consistent with artifacts found on the island.

“What we're actually seeing here is that ecological constraints mean that islands just can't support that many people in the first place,” Dr Davis said.

“People actually changed the landscape to increase the amount of crops they could cultivate intensively, but the numbers were still very small.”

“This is not an example of ecological catastrophe, but rather an example of how people have managed to survive for a long time in a fairly sustainable way, despite very limited natural resources.”

“The misconception about the island's population size comes from the island's large and impressive moai statues and the assumption that it takes a large number of people to build such statues,” Prof Lipo said.

“Ecologists tend to use Easter Island as a model for how population size can lead to ecological catastrophe.”

“You can't use Easter Island as an example to suit your story.”

“We need to understand the island in its own context, because what it really tells us is quite different from what people believe.”

of Investigation result Published in today's journal Scientific advances.

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Dylan S. Davis others2024. Island-wide characterization of agricultural production casts doubt on the population collapse hypothesis for Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Advances in Science 10(25):eado1459; doi:10.1126/sciadv.ado1459

Source: www.sci.news

There was no legendary social collapse on Easter Island

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The people of Easter Island built hundreds of monolithic statues called Moai.

Stephanie Morcinek via Unsplash

The widely held claim that the ancient people of Easter Island experienced a social collapse due to overexploitation of natural resources is being called into fresh doubt: analysis of historical agricultural practices suggests that a small, stable population lived sustainably for centuries before Europeans arrived.

Famous for its towering stone statues, Easter Island (also known as Rapa Nui) in the Pacific Ocean is thought to have been inhabited by Polynesians as early as A.D. 1200. At the time, the island’s 164 square kilometers were covered in palm forests, but a combination of rats and over-logging soon destroyed them.

According to a narrative popularized by historian Jared Diamond, unsustainable resource use led to a rapid population growth and collapse before Europeans arrived in 1722.

The islanders made their living primarily from rock gardening, a type of agriculture common in areas with poor soil and harsh climates, by scattering stones throughout the fields to create micro-habitats and windbreaks, conserve moisture, and provide important minerals.

Previous studies have suggested that the rock gardens covered 21 square kilometers of land on Rapa Nui and supported a population of up to 16,000 people.

To learn more, Carl Lipo Researchers from Binghamton University in New York combined satellite imagery and machine learning models trained on ground surveys to generate estimates of rock gardening areas across the island.

They found that the largest rock gardens measured just 0.76 square kilometers. The researchers estimate that such a system could not have supported more than 4,000 people, roughly the estimated population at the time Europeans arrived. In other words, the population was remarkably stable, the team argues.

Robert DiNapoli, a researcher at Binghamton University in New York, inspects the rock garden.

Carl Lipo

Lipo says those who continue to use Easter Island as a case study of degradation and collapse need to see the empirical evidence: “The results we produce suggest that the island was never… [had] “Huge populations overconsumed resources,” he says, “and overall, the archaeological record shows no evidence of population collapse before European arrival.”

Instead, Lipo says, the increasingly popular theory is that the islanders modified their environment to enable sustainable livelihoods for generations: “Their small populations and scattered, low-density settlement patterns enabled them to reliably produce enough food for over 500 years before Europeans arrived.”

Dale F. Simpson The University of Illinois researchers say further research is needed to assess whether the precision and accuracy of the model calculations used in the study match the archaeological record.

“Overall, this is [study] Rapa Nui [people] “Rapa Nui is often portrayed as a culture that collapsed due to sociopolitical competition, overexploitation of ecosystems, and megalithic overproduction, but the argument is better served by recognizing Rapa Nui as a Polynesian island culture of adaptation and survival that thrived for almost a millennium,” Simpson said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com