Ben Winter
¡‘lorana!
Last year I discovered a fascination with Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and I want to share that with you. The island is a mysterious place situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, close to nothing and no-one. The perplexing nature of its people and their history served as a starting point for my interest. It sometimes feels like putting together a puzzle from a box of random pieces and not being sure you have enough of the right ones to see the full picture. When I ask people for the first thing that comes to mind when I mention Easter Island it’s almost always the Moai, which they often refer to as ‘the Easter Island heads’. While these massive Neolithic statues contain an intriguing history in themselves, there is so much more to know when it comes to the people living there. I don’t touch on the ‘Cult of the Birdman’ on this page, but that’s yet another area to lose hours exploring. What this page focuses on is how the population saw a sharp decline, with particular attention to the theories of ecocide and fatal impact. The short video below serves as a brief introduction to the topic and is accompanied by some further reading should you wish to really sink your teeth in. I highly recommend reading Jared Diamond’s chapter on Rapa Nui and then Benny Pieser’s response to it. It is this ‘back and forth’ between historians that I truly enjoy, and these two will start to get you asking more specific questions about what happened to the people of Rapa Nui.
I hope you find this area of history as interesting as I do!
Last year I discovered a fascination with Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and I want to share that with you. The island is a mysterious place situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, close to nothing and no-one. The perplexing nature of its people and their history served as a starting point for my interest. It sometimes feels like putting together a puzzle from a box of random pieces and not being sure you have enough of the right ones to see the full picture. When I ask people for the first thing that comes to mind when I mention Easter Island it’s almost always the Moai, which they often refer to as ‘the Easter Island heads’. While these massive Neolithic statues contain an intriguing history in themselves, there is so much more to know when it comes to the people living there. I don’t touch on the ‘Cult of the Birdman’ on this page, but that’s yet another area to lose hours exploring. What this page focuses on is how the population saw a sharp decline, with particular attention to the theories of ecocide and fatal impact. The short video below serves as a brief introduction to the topic and is accompanied by some further reading should you wish to really sink your teeth in. I highly recommend reading Jared Diamond’s chapter on Rapa Nui and then Benny Pieser’s response to it. It is this ‘back and forth’ between historians that I truly enjoy, and these two will start to get you asking more specific questions about what happened to the people of Rapa Nui.
I hope you find this area of history as interesting as I do!
FOR ECOCIDE
Diamond builds upon the work of Bahn and Flenley. I would suggest reading Diamond’s chapter first and then looking at the areas of Easter Earth, Easter Island that he draws from.
Bahn, Paul G., and John Flenley, Easter Island, Earth Island, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1992).
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed (New York: Viking, 2005) pp.79-120.
Good, David H. and Rafael Reuveny, ‘The Fate of Eater Island: The Limits of Resource Management Institutions’, Ecological Economics, vol.58, no.3, 2006, pp.473-490.
FOR FATAL IMPACT
Pieser and Morris are both published in the same journal. Pieser’s article is a great place to start, as it is one voice directed at Diamond’s ecocide argument. Morris brings together many of the articles published in this edition of Energy & Environment to build a strong case for ecocide being false. Further reading is looking at Pieser and Diamond answering each other’s critiques over the years.
Morris, Julian, ‘Confuse: How Jared Diamond Fails to Convince’, Energy & Environment, vol. 16, no.3&4, 2005, pp.395-421.
Peiser, Benny, ‘From genocide to Ecocide: the rape of Rapa Nui’, Energy & Environment, vol. 16, no.3&4, 2005, pp.513-539.
Rainbird, Paul, ‘A Message for Our Future? The Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Ecodisater and Pacific Island Environments’, World Archaeology, vol.33, no.3, 2002, pp.436-451.
FOR VEGETATION & ANIMALS
These three articles are great. However, fair warning, they are very dense and academic, especially when it comes to facts and figures. These are pieces to look at once you have framed more clear questions in your mind about the history of the island.
Hunt, Terry L., ‘Rethinking Easter Island’s Ecological Catastrophe’, Journal of Archaeological Science, vol.34, no.3, October 2007, pp.485-502.
Ladefoged, Thegn N. et al, ‘Soil Nutrient Analysis of Rapa Nui Gardening’, Archaeology in Oceania, vol.45, no.2, July 2010, pp.80-85.
Mann, Daniel et al, ‘Drought, Vegetation Change and Human History on Rapa Nui (Isla de Pascua, Easter Island)’, Quaternary Research, vol.69, no.1, January 2008, pp.16-28.
Diamond builds upon the work of Bahn and Flenley. I would suggest reading Diamond’s chapter first and then looking at the areas of Easter Earth, Easter Island that he draws from.
Bahn, Paul G., and John Flenley, Easter Island, Earth Island, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1992).
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed (New York: Viking, 2005) pp.79-120.
Good, David H. and Rafael Reuveny, ‘The Fate of Eater Island: The Limits of Resource Management Institutions’, Ecological Economics, vol.58, no.3, 2006, pp.473-490.
FOR FATAL IMPACT
Pieser and Morris are both published in the same journal. Pieser’s article is a great place to start, as it is one voice directed at Diamond’s ecocide argument. Morris brings together many of the articles published in this edition of Energy & Environment to build a strong case for ecocide being false. Further reading is looking at Pieser and Diamond answering each other’s critiques over the years.
Morris, Julian, ‘Confuse: How Jared Diamond Fails to Convince’, Energy & Environment, vol. 16, no.3&4, 2005, pp.395-421.
Peiser, Benny, ‘From genocide to Ecocide: the rape of Rapa Nui’, Energy & Environment, vol. 16, no.3&4, 2005, pp.513-539.
Rainbird, Paul, ‘A Message for Our Future? The Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Ecodisater and Pacific Island Environments’, World Archaeology, vol.33, no.3, 2002, pp.436-451.
FOR VEGETATION & ANIMALS
These three articles are great. However, fair warning, they are very dense and academic, especially when it comes to facts and figures. These are pieces to look at once you have framed more clear questions in your mind about the history of the island.
Hunt, Terry L., ‘Rethinking Easter Island’s Ecological Catastrophe’, Journal of Archaeological Science, vol.34, no.3, October 2007, pp.485-502.
Ladefoged, Thegn N. et al, ‘Soil Nutrient Analysis of Rapa Nui Gardening’, Archaeology in Oceania, vol.45, no.2, July 2010, pp.80-85.
Mann, Daniel et al, ‘Drought, Vegetation Change and Human History on Rapa Nui (Isla de Pascua, Easter Island)’, Quaternary Research, vol.69, no.1, January 2008, pp.16-28.