NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Easter Island

Easter Island (Rapa Nui in the Rapa Nui language, Isla de Pascua in Spanish), is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. The island is an overseas territory of Chile. Easter Island is famous for its monumental statues, called moai (pronounced MOE-eye), created by the Rapanui people. It is a world heritage site with much of the island protected within the Rapa Nui National Park. Rapa Nui may be: Easter Island, or its people Rapa Nui (film) Rapa Nui language Category: ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Rapa_Nui,_Chile. ... Image File history File links Easter_Island_map-en. ... Terevaka is a 507 metre tall volcano and is the largest, tallest and youngest of three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (a Chilean island in the Pacific). ... Poike is one of three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (a Chilean island in the Pacific), at 370 metres it is the islands second highest peak after Terevaka. ... View of Rano Kau from the approach to Orongo showing the gap in the lip of the crater wall Rano Kau is a 324 metre tall extinct volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean; it was formed of basaltic lava flows... Motu Nui Picture taken during January 2004, from Orongo at the Rano Kau volcano, around 250 meters (820 feet) above sea level. ... Orongo is a ceremonial centre on Rapa Nui/Easter Island, which was until the mid nineteenth century the centre of the Birdman cult. ... Mataveri International Airport (IATA airport code: IPC) located on Easter Island, is one of the worlds most remote airports, served only by the Chilean carrier LAN Airlines (formerly LanChile). ... Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... Not to be confused with capitol. ... (This is about the main town on Easter Island and not the Hangaroa river located in New Zealand). ... An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... The Rapa Nui language (also Rapanui) is the Eastern Polynesian language of Easter Island, forming its own subgroup of that classification. ... The Rapanui or Rapa Nui (Big Rapa) are the native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean (the island itself is also called Rapa Nui). ... A demonym or gentilic is a word that denotes the members of a people or the inhabitants of a place. ... Easter Island and its location Easter Island (Polynesian: Rapa Nui (Great Rapa), Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is an island in the south Pacific Ocean belonging to Chile. ... Melania Carolina Hotu Hey is a Rapanui politician. ... A mayor (from the Latin mÄior, meaning larger, greater) is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer. ... (This is about the main town on Easter Island and not the Hangaroa river located in New Zealand). ... Pedro Pablo Edmunds Paoa is a Rapanui politician. ... Ceremonies during the annexation of Hawaii. ... is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the physical quantity. ... To help compare sizes of different geographic regions, we list here areas between 1 kmÂ² (100 hectares) and 10 kmÂ² (1000 hectares). ... A square mile is an English unit of area equal to that of a square with sides each 1 statute mile (â‰ˆ1,609 m) in length. ... Population density per square kilometre by country, 2006 Population density map of the world in 1994. ... Timezone and TimeZone redirect here. ... CST or UTC-6 The Central Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting six hours from UTC during standard time (UTC-6) and five hours during daylight saving time (UTC-5). ... UTC redirects here. ... This is a list of country calling codes defined by ITU-T recommendation E.164. ... The Rapa Nui language (also Rapanui) is the Eastern Polynesian language of Easter Island, forming its own subgroup of that classification. ... Polynesian is an adjectival form which refers variously to: Polynesian pie Polynesian sauce, a food condiment available at Chick-fil-A the aboriginal inhabitants of Polynesia, and their: Polynesian culture Polynesian mythology Polynesian languages Category: ... The Polynesian Triangle is a geographical region of the Pacific Ocean anchored by Hawaii, Rapa Nui and New Zealand. ... A United Kingdom overseas territory (formerly known as a dependent territory or earlier as a crown colony) is a territory that is under the sovereignty and formal control of the United Kingdom but is not part of the United Kingdom proper ( Great Britain and Northern Ireland). ... Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... The Rapanui or Rapa Nui (Big Rapa) are the native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean (the island itself is also called Rapa Nui). ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... Rapa Nui National Park is located in Easter Island, Chile. ...

[edit] Name

The name "Easter Island" was given by the island's first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who encountered Easter Island on Easter Sunday 1722, while searching for Davis or David's island.^[2] The island's official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, is Spanish for "Easter Island". The Dutch (Ethnonym: Nederlanders meaning Lowlanders) are the dominant ethnic group[1] of the Netherlands[2]. They are usually seen as a Germanic people. ... Jacob Roggeveen (January 1659 - 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead discovered Easter Island by chance. ... Easter (also called Pascha) is generally accounted the most important holiday of the Christian year, observed March or April each year to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead (after his death by crucifixion; see Good Friday), which Christians believe happened at about this time of year, almost two... // Events Abraham De Moivre states De Moivres theorem connecting trigonometric functions and complex numbers Publication of the first book of Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier Fall of Persias Safavid dynasty during a bloody revolt of the Afghani people. ... Edward Davis or Davies (fl. ...

The current Polynesian name of the island, Rapa Nui or "Big Rapa", was coined by labor immigrants from Rapa in the Bass Islands, who likened it to their home island in the aftermath of the Peruvian slave deportations in the 1870s.^[3] However, Thor Heyerdahl has claimed that the naming would have been the opposite, Rapa being the original name of Easter Island, and Rapa Iti was named by its refugees.^[4] Rapa or Rapa Iti as it is sometimes called in more recent years (to distinguish it from Rapa Nui, one name for Easter Island), is the largest and only inhabited island of the Bass Islands. ... The Bass Islands (French: Îles du Bass) consist primarily of Rapa and Marotiri. ... Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914 Larvik, Norway â€“ April 18, 2002 Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography. ...

There are several hypotheses about the "original" Polynesian name for Easter Island, including Te pito o te henua, or "The Navel of the World" due to its isolation. Legends claim that the island was first named as Te pito o te kainga a Hau Maka, or the "Little piece of land of Hau Maka".^[5] Another name, Mata-ki-Te-rangi, means "Eyes that talk to the sky."^[6]

[edit] Location and physical geography

Orthographic projection centered on Easter Island.

Easter Island, Sala y Gómez, South America and the islands in between

Easter Island is one of the world's most isolated inhabited islands. It is 3,600 km (2,237 mi) west of continental Chile and 2,075 km (1,290 mi) east of Pitcairn (Sala y Gómez, 415 kilometres to the east, is closer but uninhabited). Image File history File links Orthographic projection centred over Easter Island 27Â°09â€² S 109Â°25â€² W File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Orthographic projection centred over Easter Island 27Â°09â€² S 109Â°25â€² W File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Easter Island and its location in South America from http://www. ... Easter Island and its location in South America from http://www. ... Isla Sala y GÃ³mez (Rapa Nui: Motu Motiro Hiva) is a small uninhabited island lying in the eastern Pacific at 26Â°27â€² S 105Â°28â€² W. It is part of Chiles Easter Island province. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Isla Sala y GÃ³mez (Rapa Nui: Motu Motiro Hiva) is a small uninhabited island lying in the eastern Pacific at 26Â°27â€² S 105Â°28â€² W. It is part of Chiles Easter Island province. ...

It has a latitude close to that of Caldera, Chile, an area of 163.6 km² (63 sq mi), and a maximum altitude of 507 metres. There are three Rano (freshwater crater lakes), at Rano Kau, Rano Raraku and Rano Aroi, near the summit of Terevaka, but no permanent streams or rivers. Port of Caldera Caldera is a seaport in the region of Atacama. ... A crater lake that simply goes by the name Crater Lake, in Oregon, USA Heaven Lake (Chonji / Tianchi), North Korea / China Cuicocha, Ecuador Lake formed after 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines Mount Katmai, Alaska, USA Mount Wenchi crater lake, Ethiopia Nemrut, Turkey VolcÃ¡n IrazÃº, Costa Rica This page... View of Rano Kau from the approach to Orongo showing the gap in the lip of the crater wall Rano Kau is a 324 metre tall extinct volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean; it was formed of basaltic lava flows... Rano Raraku Moai Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island. ...

[edit] Geology

Easter Island is a volcanic high island, consisting of three extinct volcanoes: Terevaka (altitude 507 metres) forms the bulk of the island. Two other volcanoes, Poike and Rano Kau, form the eastern and southern headlands and give the island its approximately triangular shape. There are numerous lesser cones and other volcanic features, including the crater Rano Raraku, the cinder cone Puna Pau and many volcanic caves including lava tubes. High Island is the name of several places in the United States: Communities High Island, Texas Islands High Island (Michigan) High Island (New York) High Island (Connecticut) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Terevaka is a 507 metre tall volcano and is the largest, tallest and youngest of three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (a Chilean island in the Pacific). ... Poike is one of three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (a Chilean island in the Pacific), at 370 metres it is the islands second highest peak after Terevaka. ... View of Rano Kau from the approach to Orongo showing the gap in the lip of the crater wall Rano Kau is a 324 metre tall extinct volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean; it was formed of basaltic lava flows... Rano Raraku Moai Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island. ... For peaks named Cinder Cone, see list of peaks named Cinder Cone. ... Punau Pau is a quarry in a small crater or cinder cone on the outskirts of Hanga Roa in the South West of Easter Island (a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean). ... Lava tubes are natural conduits through which lava travels beneath the surface of a lava flow. ...

Easter Island and surrounding islets such as Motu Nui, Motu Iti are the summit of a large volcanic mountain which rises over two thousand metres from the sea bed. It is part of the Sala y Gómez Ridge, a (mostly submarine) mountain range with dozens of seamounts starting with Pukao and then Moai, two seamounts to the west of Easter Island, and extending 2,700 km (1,700 mi) east to the Nazca Seamount.^[7] Motu Nui Picture taken during January 2004, from Orongo at the Rano Kau volcano, around 250 meters (820 feet) above sea level. ... This is about an islet off Easter Island not Motu Iti (Marquesas Islands) Motu Iti, or Little island is a small uninhabited islet near Motu Nui, about a mile from Rano Kau on the south western corner of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific. ... A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the waters surface (sea level), and thus is not an island. ... The Pukao Seamount is a submarine volcano, the most westerly in the Easter Seamount Chain or Sala y GÃ³mez ridge. ... The Moai Seamount is a submarine volcano, the second most westerly in the Easter Seamount Chain or Sala y GÃ³mez ridge it is east of Pukao (Seamount) and west of Easter Island. ...

Pukao, Moai and Easter Island were formed in the last 750,000 years, with the most recent eruption a little over a hundred thousand years ago. They are the youngest mountains of the Sala y Gómez Ridge, which has been formed by the Nazca Plate floating over the Easter hotspot.^[8] Only at Easter Island, its surrounding islets and Sala y Gómez does the Sala y Gómez Ridge form dry land. The Nacza plate, shown in light blue The Nazca Plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. ... The Easter hotspot is marked 7 on map. ... Isla Sala y GÃ³mez (Rapa Nui: Motu Motiro Hiva) is a small uninhabited island lying in the eastern Pacific at 26Â°27â€² S 105Â°28â€² W. It is part of Chiles Easter Island province. ...

In the first half of the 20th century, steam came out of the Rano Kau crater wall. This was photographed by the island's manager, Mr Edmunds.[1]

[edit] History

Rapa Nui National Park*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Chile
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iii, v
Reference	715
Region†	Oceanic Continent
Inscription history
Inscription	1995 (19th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

Main article: History of Easter Island

The history of Easter Island is incredibly rich and highly controversial. Its inhabitants have endured famines, epidemics, civil war, slave raids and colonialism, and the crash of their ecosystem; their population has declined precipitously more than once. They have left a cultural legacy that has brought them fame out of all proportion to their numbers. Rapa Nui National Park is located in Easter Island, Chile. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... Download high resolution version (750x1000, 131 KB)Moai at Rano Raraku taken during January 2004 File links The following pages link to this file: Moai Rano Raraku Around the World in 80 Treasures Categories: User-created public domain images | NowCommons ... As of 2006, there are a total of 830 World Heritage Sites located in 138 State Parties. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Chile. ... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 State... <nowiki>Insert non-formatted text hereBold text</nowiki>A famine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly accompanied by widespread malnutrition, starvation, epidemic and increased mortality. ... In epidemiology, an epidemic (from [[Latin language] epi- upon + demos people) is a disease that appears as new cases in a given human population, during a given period, at a rate that substantially exceeds what is expected, based on recent experience (the number of new cases in the population during... This article is about the definition of the specific type of war. ... Slave redirects here. ... It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ...

There are many theories about the cultural composition and history of Easter Island. No two seem to agree. Most scholars consider the island's culture Polynesian. But local traditions say the original culture consisted of two different races: the Hanau epe, or long-ears, the original settlers of the island with red hair and fair skin, and the Hanau momoko, or short ears, the Polynesian peoples generally associated with the Pacific. A Moai bearing resemblances to statues around Lake Titicaca in South America. ...

Pedro Atan, an eleventh generation descendant of Ororoina told Thor Heyerdahl in 1955: "There were handsome people among our ancestors. There were two kinds of people on this island: some were dark (Polynesian) and some were quite fair skinned like you from the mainland, and with light hair. Real white people. But they were genuine Easter Islanderes, quite genuine. In our family there were many of the fair type, who were called oho-tea, or the light-haired. My own mother and aunt had [red] hair. ... There were many of that type in our family, all the way back. We brothers are not like that. But my daughter who was drowned had milk-white skin and completely red hair, and so has my grown up son, Juan. He makes the twelfth generation after Ororoina." Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914 Larvik, Norway â€“ April 18, 2002 Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography. ... Polynesian is an adjectival form which refers variously to: Polynesian pie Polynesian sauce, a food condiment available at Chick-fil-A the aboriginal inhabitants of Polynesia, and their: Polynesian culture Polynesian mythology Polynesian languages Category: ...

That the population consisted of two distinct races was also noted by the first European to visit the island, Jacob Roggeveen, on Easter Sunday, 1722: Jacob Roggeveen (January 1659 - 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead discovered Easter Island by chance. ...

"Among the first who came aboard was a white man. He was ornamented with a crown of feathers on his head, which was close shaven." The islander was presented with several gifts including "two strings of blue pearls, a small mirror, and a pair of scissors." Particularly striking were the man's artificially lengthened ears which contained "round white pegs as large as his fist." The lobes hung down to his shoulders. Roggeveen later noted that "masses of the islanders had their ears lengthened in this [same] manner." If their long ears got in the way when working, they removed the pegs and lifted the long flap up and over the upper edge of the ear. Two feathers Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. ...

"They are a tall, well built people," he continues, "who, so far as can be judged, are fair skinned [Polynesains] such as we know them in Tahiti, Hawaii and other eastern islands of the south seas. But the population is mixed, some are conspicuous by their darker skins, while others are quite white, like Europeans. A few are also of a reddish tint as if somewhat severely tanned by the sun. Many had beards."

"Many islanders went about stark naked, but with their entire body artistically tattooed in one continuous pattern of birds and strange figures. Others ware cloaks of bark cloth colored red and yellow. Some have waving crowns of feathers on their heads, and others [wear] queer reed hats. All are friendly, and we saw no weapons of any kind. Curiously there were hardly women to be seen, although the place was swarming with men. But the few women who showed themselves are more than cordial to us, without the men showing the slightest sign of jealousy."

According to tradition, the first oho-tea, (light-skinned) Hotu Matua, landed on the island's North-Eastern shore at Anakena Bay sometime around 300 CE. (The remains of his stone house and fireplace are still in evidence there with carbon 14 dating of the ashes providing the date.) The two vessels in Hotu Matua's party were so large they carried several hundred men, and Oroi, Matua's worst enemy made passage as a stowaway. // Hotu Matua or Hotu Matua) was the legendary first settler and ariki mau (supreme chief or king) of Easter Island. ... Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon discovered on February 27, 1940, by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben. ...

A single moai or statue (representing Hotu Matua?) stands on the platform, or ahu, at the beach. It was the first of the ancient stone sculptures to be re-erected under the urging of Thor Heyerdahl during his 1955 expedition to the island. Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly...

[edit] Ecology

View of Easter Island from space, 2001. The Poike peninsula is on the right.

Easter Island, together with its closest neighbour, the tiny island of Isla Sala y Gómez 415 km further east, is recognized by ecologists as a distinct ecoregion, the Rapa Nui subtropical broadleaf forests. Having relatively little rainfall contributed to eventual deforestation. The original subtropical moist broadleaf forests are now gone, but paleobotanical studies of fossil pollen and tree moulds left by lava flows indicate that the island was formerly forested, with a range of trees, shrubs, ferns, and grasses. A large palm, Paschalococos disperta, related to the Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis), was one of the dominant trees, as was the toromiro tree (Sophora toromiro). The palm is now extinct, and the toromiro is extinct in the wild. However, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the Göteborg Botanical Garden are jointly leading a scientific program to reintroduce the toromiro to Easter Island. The island is, and has been for at least the last three centuries, mainly covered in grassland with nga'atu or bulrush in the crater lakes of Rano Raraku and Rano Kau. Presence of these reeds (which are called totora in the Andes) was used to support the argument of a South American origin of the statue builders, but pollen analysis of lake sediments shows these reeds have grown on the island for over 30,000 years. Before the arrival of humans, Easter Island had vast seabird colonies, no longer found on the main island, and several species of landbirds, which have become extinct. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (893x670, 546 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Easter Island Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (893x670, 546 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Easter Island Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Map of Sala-y-GÃ³mez Isla Sala y GÃ³mez is a small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to Chile. ... An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... Tropic wet forests in the World Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, also known as tropical wet forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome. ... Paleobotany (from the Greek words paleon = old and botanikos = of herbs) is the branch of paleontology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use in the reconstruction of past environments and the history of life. ... SEM image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), prairie hollyhock (Sidalcea malviflora), oriental lily (Lilium auratum), evening primrose (Oenothera fruticosa), and castor bean (Ricinus communis). ... Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae or Palmae (also known by the name Palmaceae, which is taxonomically invalid. ... Binomial name Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill. ... Binomial name Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill. ... Binomial name Sophora toromiro Toromiro (Sophora toromiro) is a species of tree formerly a common in the forests of Easter Island. ... Species About 60-70 species; see text: Sophora is a genus of about 45 species of small trees and shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. ... For other places with the same name, see Royal Botanical Gardens (disambiguation). ... The entrance of GÃ¶teborg Botanical Garden in the spring. ... The Konza tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills of northeastern Kansas. ... Uros harvesting Totora on Lake Titicaca Totora (Schoenoplectus californicus ssp. ... Rano Raraku Moai Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island. ... View of Rano Kau from the approach to Orongo showing the gap in the lip of the crater wall Rano Kau is a 324 metre tall extinct volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean; it was formed of basaltic lava flows... For other uses, see Extinction (disambiguation). ...

[edit] Destruction of the ecosystem

"The overall picture for Easter is the most extreme example of forest destruction in the Pacific, and among the most extreme in the world: the whole forest gone, and all of its tree species extinct."^[9]

Panorama of Anakena beach, Easter Island. The moai pictured here was the first to be raised back into place upon its ahu in 1955 by islanders using the ancient method.

Trees are sparse on modern Easter Island, rarely forming small groves. The island once had a forest of palms, and it has generally been thought that native Easter Islanders deforested the island in the process of erecting their statues.^{[citation needed]} Experimental archaeology has clearly demonstrated that some statues certainly could have been placed on "Y" shaped wooden frames called miro manga erua and then pulled to their final destinations on ceremonial sites. Rapanui traditions metaphorically refer to spiritual power (mana) as the means by which the moai were "walked" from the quarry. But, given the island's southern latitude, the climatic effects of the Little Ice Age (about 1650 to 1850) may have contributed to deforestation and other changes, though such speculation is unproven. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 180 pixel Image in higher resolution (5000 Ã— 1122 pixel, file size: 762 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Panorama of Anakena beach with two Ahu Moais Own work, published under the GFDL. File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 180 pixel Image in higher resolution (5000 Ã— 1122 pixel, file size: 762 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Panorama of Anakena beach with two Ahu Moais Own work, published under the GFDL. File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia... Anakena is a white coral sand beach in Rapa Nui National Park on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. ... See Grove for other meanings (disambiguation) of the word grove. A grove is a small group of trees such as a sequoia grove. ... Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (also known as Palmae or Palmaceae), the palm family, is a family of flowering plants, belonging to the monocot order Arecales. ... The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of cooling occurring after a warmer era known as the Medieval climate optimum. ...

Jared Diamond disregards the influence of climate but still gives an extensive look into the collapse of the ancient Easter Islanders in his book Collapse. The disappearance of the island's trees seems to coincide with a decline of its civilization around the 17th and 18th century. Midden contents show a sudden drop in quantities of fish and bird bones as the islanders lost the means to construct fishing vessels and the birds lost their nesting sites. Soil erosion due to lack of trees is apparent in some places. Sediment samples document that up to half of the native plants had become extinct and that the vegetation of the island was drastically altered. Chickens and rats became leading items of diet and there are contested hints that cannibalism occurred, based on human remains associated with cooking sites, especially in caves. Jared Mason Diamond (b. ... Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed cover Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is a 2005 English-language book by University of California, Los Angeles geography professor Jared M. Diamond. ... A midden, also known as kitchen middens, is a dump for domestic waste. ... For other uses, see Fish (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ... This article is about the skeletal organs. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock, and so forth) by the agents of wind, water, ice, or movement in response to gravity. ... This article is about rats. ... Cannibal redirects here. ...

In his article "From Genocide to Ecocide: The Rape of Rapa Nui", Benny Peiser notes evidence of self-sufficiency on Easter Island when Europeans first arrived. Although stressed, the island may still have had some (small) trees, mainly toromiro. Cornelis Bouman, Jakob Roggeveen's captain, stated in his log book, "... of yams, bananas and small coconut palms we saw little and no other trees or crops." According to Carl Friedrich Behrens, Roggeveen's officer, "The natives presented palm branches as peace offerings. Their houses were set up on wooden stakes, daubed over with luting and covered with palm leaves," (presumably from banana plants as the island was by then deforested). The stakes indicate that either driftwood or living trees were still available, though the reliability of Behrens as a source is questionable^{[citation needed]}. By contrast, Peiser considers these reports to indicate that considerable numbers of large trees still existed at that time, which is explicitly contradicted by the Bouman quote above. Benny Peiser is a member of the Faculty of Science at Liverpools John Moores University. ... Binomial name Sophora toromiro Toromiro (Sophora toromiro) is a species of tree formerly a common in the forests of Easter Island. ... Jacob Roggeveen (1 February 1659 - 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead came across Easter Island by chance. ... A log book can be: an inventors notebook a ships log This is a disambiguation page â€” a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... Yam may refer to: Yam (vegetable), common name for members of Dioscorea Yam (god), a Levantine deity A colloquially American term for Shellfish Yam (route), a Mongolian supply point system An animal in the same family as the Yak and Wild Buffalo A colloquially American term for sweet potato A... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Binomial name Cocos nucifera L.. The Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera L.), is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A piece of waterlogged driftwood Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach by the action of the waves. ...

In his book A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright speculates that for a generation or so, "there was enough old lumber to haul the great stones and still keep a few canoes seaworthy for deep water". When the day came the last boat was gone, wars broke out over "ancient planks and wormeaten bits of jetsam". But this statement is flawed since the sea going craft the islanders used were not made of wood, but of bundles of freshwater reeds planted in the Rano Kao crater which, according to Wright, were planted by one of the first "long-ear" settlers. A one-man craft of bound Scirpus totora reeds was called a pora. There were larger reed ships, some containting three masts with reed sails and capable of holding over 400 individuals, and are depicted in petroglyphs, roof paintings and sculptures. This article is about the boat. ... The rising sun of Pora! symbolizes a new dawn Pora! (Ukrainian: ), meaning ITS TIME! in Ukrainian, is a civic youth organization in Ukraine espousing nonviolent resistance and advocating increased national democracy, in opposition to what they claimed was the authoritarian governing style of Ukraines president Leonid Kuchma. ...

By the end of the third epoch in the island's history, with only one "long-ear" surviving, there were more than a thousand moai (stone statues), which was one for every ten islanders (Wright, 2004). When the Europeans arrived in the 18th century, the worst was over and they only found one or two living souls per statue.

Easter Island has suffered from heavy soil erosion in recent centuries, perhaps aggravated by agriculture and massive deforestation. This process seems to have been gradual and may have been aggravated by extensive sheep farming throughout most of the 20th century. Jakob Roggeveen reported that Easter Island was exceptionally fertile. "Fowls are the only animals they keep. They cultivate bananas, sugar cane, and above all sweet potatoes." In 1786 M. de La Pérouse visited Easter Island and his gardener declared that "three days' work a year" would be enough to support the population. This article is about the process of deforestation in the environment. ... Sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. ... Jacob Roggeveen (1 February 1659 - 31 January 1729) was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis, but he instead came across Easter Island by chance. ... LapÃ©rouse by FranÃ§ois Rude (1784-1855), in 1828 LapÃ©rouse Jean FranÃ§ois Galaup, count (comte) de La PÃ©rouse (August 23, 1741 - 1788) was a French naval officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania. ...

Rollin, a major in the Perouse expedition of 1786, wrote, "Instead of meeting with men exhausted by famine... I found, on the contrary, a considerable population, with more beauty and grace than I afterwards met in any other island; and a soil, which, with very little labour, furnished excellent provisions, and in an abundance more than sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants."^[10]

That oral traditions of the islanders are obsessed with cannibalism is sometimes taken as evidence supporting a rapid collapse. For example, to severely insult an enemy one would say, "The flesh of your mother sticks between my teeth." Diamond suggests that this means the food supply of the people ultimately ran out^[11]; however, cannibalism was widespread across Polynesian cultures, rendering his conclusion speculative.^[12]

[edit] Culture

Birdmen (Tangata manu) paintings in the so-called "Cave of the Men Eatresses".

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1026x1316, 848 KB)Questa immagine Ã¨ stata creata in Italia ed Ã¨ ora di pubblico dominio poichÃ© il suo copyright Ã¨ scaduto. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1026x1316, 848 KB)Questa immagine Ã¨ stata creata in Italia ed Ã¨ ora di pubblico dominio poichÃ© il suo copyright Ã¨ scaduto. ... The Tangata manu (the bird-man), is the winner of a traditional competition of the Easter Island people. ...

[edit] Mythology

Main article: Rapa Nui mythology

The most important myths are: The Rapa Nui mythology, also known as Pascuense mythology or Easter Island mythology, is the name given to the mythology formed by myths, legends and beliefs of the native peoples of the island of Easter Island (island of Rapa Nui); located in in the south Pacific Ocean, almost four thousand... For other uses, see Mythology (disambiguation). ...

Tangata manu, the Birdman cult which was practiced until the 1860s.
Make-make, an important god.
Aku-aku, the guardians of the sacred family caves.
Moai-kava-kava a ghost man of the Hanau eepe (long-ears.)
Hekai ite umu pare haonga takapu Hanau eepe kai noruego sacred chant to apease the aku-aku before entering a family cave.

The Tangata manu (the bird-man), is the winner of a traditional competition of the Easter Island people. ... For other uses, see Make-make (disambiguation). ...

[edit] Stone work

Rapa Nui is a volcanic island consisting of geologically recent igneous rock. The Rapa Nui people had a Stone Age civilisation and made extensive use of several different types of indigenous stone:

Basalt, a hard, dense stone used for toki and at least one of the moai.
Obsidian, a volcanic glass with sharp edges used for sharp-edged implements such as Mataa and also for the black pupils of the eyes of the moai.
Red Scoria from Puna Pau, a very light red stone used for the pukao and a few moai.
Tuff from Rano Raraku, a much more easily worked rock than basalt, and was used for most of the moai.

For the cities, see Basalt, Colorado and Basalt, Idaho. ... Hoa Hakananaia on display in the British Museums Wellcome Trust Gallery Hoa Hakananaia is a moai (Easter Island statue) housed in the British Museum in London. ... This article is about a type of volcanic glass. ... Scoria Scoria is a textural term for macrovesicular volcanic rock ejecta. ... Punau Pau is a quarry in a small crater or cinder cone on the outskirts of Hanga Roa in the South West of Easter Island (a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean). ... Moai statue with its Pukau Pukao are the hats or topknots that some Rapa Nui (Easter island) Moai (statues) used to have. ... Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... Welded tuff at Golden Gate in Yellowstone National Park Tuff (from the Italian tufo) is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. ... Rano Raraku Moai Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island. ...

[edit] Moai (statues)

Main article: Moai

Moai with replica eyes at Ahu Ko Te Riku in Hanga Roa, with Chilean Navy ship Buque Escuela Esmeralda behind.

The large stone statues, or moai, for which Easter Island is world-famous, were carved during a relatively short and intense burst of creative and productive megalithic activity. A total of 887 monolithic stone statues have been inventoried on the island and in museum collections. Although often identified as "Easter Island heads", the statues are actually complete torsos, the figures kneeling on bent knees with their hands over their stomach. Some upright moai have become buried up to their necks by shifting soils. Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... Image File history File links Moai_and_Esmeralda. ... Image File history File links Moai_and_Esmeralda. ... (This is about the main town on Easter Island and not the Hangaroa river located in New Zealand). ... The Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile) is the naval force of Chile. ... Esmeralda (BE-43) Esmeralda (BE-43) is a steel-hulled four-masted barquentine tall ship of the Chilean Navy. ...

The period when the statues were produced remains disputed, with estimates ranging from 400 CE to 1500–1700 CE. Almost all (95%) moais were carved out of distinctive, compressed, easily worked volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site inside the extinct volcano Rano Raraku. The native islanders who carved them used only stone hand chisels, mainly basalt toki, which still lay in place all over the quarry. The stone chisels were re-sharpened by chipping off a new edge when dulled. The volcanic stone the moai were carved from was first wetted to soften it before sculpting began, then again periodically during the process. While many teams worked on different statues at the same time, a single moai would take a team of five or six men approximately one year to complete. Each statue represents a deceased long-ear chief or important person, their body interred within the ahu, or coastal platforms, the moai stand upon. Rano Raraku Moai A close up of the moai at Ahu Tahai, restored with coral eyes by the American archaeologist William Mullo Moai are statues carved of compressed volcanic ash on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). ... Welded tuff at Golden Gate in Yellowstone National Park Tuff (from the Italian tufo) is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. ... Rano Raraku Moai Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island. ...

Only a quarter of the statues were installed, while nearly half still remain in the quarry at Rano Raraku and the rest elsewhere on the island, probably on their way to final locations. Moving the huge statues required a miro manga erua, a Y-shaped sledge with cross pieces, pulled with ropes made from the tough bark of the hau-hau tree, and tied fast around the statue's neck. Anywhere from 180 to 250 men were required for pulling, depending on the size of the moai. Some 50 of the now standing statues have been re-erected in modern times. The first moai was re-erected on the beach of Anakena in 1958 using traditional methods during an expedition to the island by Thor Heyerdahl. Anakena is a white coral sand beach in Rapa Nui National Park on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. ...

Tukuturi an unusual bearded kneeling moai.

While the vast majority of moai follow a fairly standard design, a few are radically different, in most parts badly eroded and broken. These are believed to predate the better-known moai, including a kneeling statue with hands on its knees, parts of a statue with clearly carved ribs and a headless, rectangularly shaped torso. Similarities to Indian stone statues around Lake Titicaca in South America are striking, whether this is accidental or not.^[13] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 504 pixels Full resolution (1536 Ã— 967 pixel, file size: 931 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The only kneeled Moai at Easter Island. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 504 pixels Full resolution (1536 Ã— 967 pixel, file size: 931 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The only kneeled Moai at Easter Island. ... Rano Raraku Moai Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island. ... Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... Lake Titicaca sits 3,812 m (12,507 feet) above sea level making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. ...

[edit] Ahu

Two ahu at Hanga Roa. In foreground Ahu Ko Te Riku (with a Pukao on its head). In the mid-ground is a side view of an Ahu with five moai showing retaining wall, platform, ramp and pavement.

Ahu are stone platforms on which some of the moai were erected. They vary greatly in layout and many have been significantly reworked in the islands during or after the huri mo'ai or statue-toppling era; many became ossuaries; one was dynamited open; and Ahu Tongariki was swept inland by a tsunami. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 549 pixelsFull resolution (1495 Ã— 1026 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 549 pixelsFull resolution (1495 Ã— 1026 pixel, file size: 1. ... (This is about the main town on Easter Island and not the Hangaroa river located in New Zealand). ... Moai statue with its Pukau Pukao are the hats or topknots that some Rapa Nui (Easter island) Moai (statues) used to have. ... Rapa Nui redirects here. ... Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... Ossuary in Hallstatt (see the article for details). ... Ahu Tongariki with Poike Volcano in the background. ... For other uses, see Tsunami (disambiguation). ...

The classic elements of ahu design are:

A retaining rear wall several feet high, usually facing the sea.
A platform behind the wall.
Pads or cushions on the platform.
A sloping ramp covered with evenly sized, wave-rounded boulders on the inland side of the platform rising most of, but not all, the way up the side of the platform.
A pavement in front of the ramp.
Inside the Ahu was a fill of rubble.

On top of many Ahu would have been:

Moai on the pads looking out over the pavement with their backs to the rear wall.
Pukao on the moai's heads.
And in their eye sockets, white coral eyes with black obsidian pupils.

Ahu evolved from the traditional Polynesian marae in which the word ahu was only used for the central stone platform, though on Easter Island ahu and moai evolved to a much greater size. The biggest ahu contained 20 times as much stone as a moai; however, most of this stone was sourced very locally (apart from broken, old moai, fragments of which have also been used in the fill).^[14] Also individual stones are mostly far smaller than the moai, so less work was needed to transport the raw material. Ahu Tongariki, restored by Chilean archaeologist Claudio Cristino in the 1990s This is about the statues of Easter Island, for the seamount see Moai (seamount) Main article: Easter Island Moai (or moâ€˜ai) are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), mostly... Moai statue with its Pukau Pukao are the hats or topknots that some Rapa Nui (Easter island) Moai (statues) used to have. ... TaputapuÄtea, an ancient marae at RaiÄtea in the Society Islands, restored in 1994. ...

Ahu Akivi, one of the few inland ahu with the only moai facing the ocean

Ahu are found mostly on the coast, where they are distributed fairly evenly except on the western slopes of Mount Terevaka and the Rano Kau and Poike^[15] headlands. These are the three areas with the least low-lying coastal land, and apart from Poike the furthest areas from Rano Raraku. One ahu with several moai was recorded on the cliffs at Rano Kau in the 1880s, but had fallen to the beach by the time of the Routledge expedition in 1914. Image File history File linksMetadata Ahu-Akivi-1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Ahu-Akivi-1. ... Ahu Akivi, the only moai facing the ocean. ... Terevaka is a 507 metre tall volcano and is the largest, tallest and youngest of three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (a Chilean island in the Pacific). ... View of Rano Kau from the approach to Orongo showing the gap in the lip of the crater wall Rano Kau is a 324 metre tall extinct volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean; it was formed of basaltic lava flows... Poike is one of three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (a Chilean island in the Pacific), at 370 metres it is the islands second highest peak after Terevaka. ... Rano Raraku Moai Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on Easter Island. ... Katherine Maria Routledge, nÃ©e Pease (1866-1935) was a British archaeologist who initiated (but did not complete) the first true survey of Easter Island. ...

Of the 313 known ahu, only 125 carried a stone moai. Others perhaps had statues made of wood, now lost. The majority of the rest had just one moai, probably due to the shortness of the moai period and difficulties in transporting them. Ahu Tongariki, one kilometer from Rano Raraku, had the most and biggest moai, 15 in total. Other notable ahu with moai are Ahu Akivi, restored in 1960 by William Mulloy, Nau Nau at Anakena and Tahai. Ahu Tongariki with Poike Volcano in the background. ... Ahu Akivi, the only moai facing the ocean. ... Anakena is a white coral sand beach in Rapa Nui National Park on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. ...

[edit] Stone walls

One of the highest-quality examples of Easter Island stone masonry is the rear wall of the Ahu at Vinapu. Made without mortar by shaping hard basalt rocks of up to seven tonnes to match each other exactly, it has a superficial similarity to some Inca stone walls in South America.^[16] For the cities, see Basalt, Colorado and Basalt, Idaho. ... This article is about the metric tonne. ... For other meanings of Inca, see Inca (disambiguation). ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ...

[edit] Stone houses

Some 1,233 prehistoric stone "houses",

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