3. twilight at easter

8/13/2019 3. Twilight at Easter

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Easter Island


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Easter Island

2,300 Miles from Chile

1,300 Miles from Pitcairn

European Discovery April 1722 by Dutchexplorer Jacob Roggeveen after 17 days

sailing from Chile in 3 large European ships


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Statues


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Statues


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Statues


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Statues


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Statues

397 Statues still in the quarry

97 statues scattered along the road

393 statues associated with 300 stoneplatforms (all toppled, some re-erected)

Most between 15 & 20 feet tall, the largest is

70 feet tall

Weighing between 10 & 270 tons


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Maoi in Quarry


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Maoi by Roadside


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Maoi on Ahu


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Statues

Volumes of speculation on the origin of the

statues

Incas from Chile Swiss writer Erich von Daniken claimed that

Easters statues were the work of intelligent

spacelings who owned ultra modern toolsbecame stranded on Easter and were finally

rescued.


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Easter Island

Archaeological work & oral tradition has shown

conclusively that the people on Easter Island

Came from Polynesia approx 900AD

Were intensive farmers (1,233 stone chicken houses) &fishers

Enjoyed a complex populous society with population

reaching a peak of 15,000 much larger than the few

thousand encountered by Europeans

Complex society is also implied by the scattered distribution

of Easters Resources


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Easter Island

Chicken House


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~64 Square Miles

Statue Quarry

Red Hat Quarry

Best Beaches

11 or 12 Territories divided the Island like a Pie


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Easter Island

When Europeans arrived

No proper sea faring vessels

Some lived in sea caves

Practised cannibalism

Ate rats

No trees

No land birds 1 sea bird nesting on the island

Captain Cook in 1774 described the islanders as small,

lean, timid & miserable


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What Happened to Easter Island?

The archaeological evidence overwhelmingly

suggests that unsustainable practices were

the cause of the downfall of Easter Islandspreviously advanced society.


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Trees

Botanical surveys of plants in the 20th Century identifiedonly 48 native species

For hundreds of thousands of years before human arrival

and during the early days of human settlement Easterwas a subtropical forest of tall trees and woody bushes

Had the largest Palm trees in the world with diameters ofover 7 feet. (disappeared approx 1500)

21 other vanished species that are used elsewhere inPolynesia for canoes, rope, cloth, harpoons, fruit, fire


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Diet

Formerly had 6 species of land bird (now none)

24/25 seabirds no longer nesting on the island (once

the richest breeding ground in the whole pacific)

Early garbage heaps showed high concentrations of

bones of dolphins, tuna, porpoises & seals

Rat bones outnumber fish bones in later garbage

Several fruits also disappeared from the diet


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Statues

Whole operation of constructing statues and platformswas enormously expensive of food resources.

20 carvers had to be fed for a month

Transport crew of 50 to 500 people working very hardand thus requiring more food than normal

Feasting associated with the raising of the statue anddues owed to clans who lands had been crossed

Calculations show that the statue building added about25% to the food requirements over the 300 years of peakproduction.

This led to wide spread clearing of land for agriculture


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Statue Transport

Recreation experiments based on statues sliding

along wooden ladders

50 to 70 people working 5 hours per day and

dragging the sled at 5 yards at each pull couldtransport an averaged size 12 ton statue nine miles

in a week.

By extrapolation, the largest of the statues wouldhave required 500 people.

Also needed lots of rope made from fibrous tree bark


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The Beginning of the End

By 1600 almost total deforestation had occurred Effects were loss of raw materials, loss of wild

caught food, decreased crop yields due to soilerosion.

Reduced to burning herbs & grasses for warmth

The funeral practice of cremation had to cease andburial of bodies took over

Starvation, population crash and cannibalism arosedue to protein deficiency

Chicken houses underwent explosive growth


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The Beginning of the End

The power of the chiefs and priests was overthrown by1680 and Easter descended into civil war.

Many people turned to living in coastal caves for safety

The last of the maoi was erected around 1620 and thetallest was among the last. The sizes of statues increasedsubstantially towards the end perhaps a sign of moreurgent appeals to the Gods

Began the period of statues being thrown down whichcontinued until 1838 which is the last report of an erectstatue.

Ahu (stone platforms) were also destroyed


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Toppling of Statues


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Toppling of Statues


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Toppling of Statues


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Why was Easter Fragile ?

Deforestation is more severe on Dry islands than wet islands

Cold high latitudes than warm equatorial islands

Old volcanic islands than young volcanic islands

Islands without aerial ash fallout

Islands far from central Asias dust plume

Low islands than high islands

Remote islands than islands with neighbours

Small islands than big islands


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Easter Since European Discovery

Steady trickle of visitors from 1722 onwards Kidnapping as slaves began in 1805

First smallpox epidemic 1836

Largest kidnapping episode 1862-63 when 24Peruvian ships abducted 1,500 people (half thepopulation)

By 1872 only 111 islanders left Annexed by Chile in 1888 and enforced labour on

ranches which further damaged the environment.Only became Chilean citizens in 1966

Some resurgence based on tourism today


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Easter as a Metaphor

On an island as small as Easter, it was easy tosee the effects of the deforestation as it wastaking place. But the inhabitants continued their

destructive actions. They probably prayed totheir gods to replenish the land so they couldcontinue, but the gods didn't answer. And stillthe trees came down. Whatever one did to alter

that ecosystem, the results were reasonablypredictable. One could stand on the summit andsee almost every point on the island. The personwho felled the last tree could see that it was the

last tree. Nonetheless, he (or she) still felled it.


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Easter as a Metaphor

As our own forests fall to the bulldozers, there aremany who are valiantly trying to save them. It isobvious, now that we have satellites showing us the

massive deforestation, that there is a seriousproblem. And yet our leaders and even themajority of individuals look on, unconcerned.They appear willing to bulldoze the last trees to

build the moai of our time. Will we have the senseto reconcile our lifestyles with the well-being of ourenvironment, or is the human personality alwaysthe same as that of the person who felled the

last tree?


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Easter Island

What did the person who chopped down thelast tree say before he/she began ??

What are our Maoi ??

3. twilight at easter

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