Late colonization of Easter Island.

Barry Brook

Barry Brook

Barry Brook

+ -1 Evaluators

By providing a robust geochronology of the Polynesian colonization of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in 1200 AD, this study underscores the rapidity with which humans can heavily degrade their environment whilst simultaneously developing a unique and complex culture in response to a constrained milieu. Confirmation of the late arrival of people on the world's most isolated inhabited island from the west imply that the unique culture of statue (Moai) building developed quickly and coincident with the first evidence of deforestation. It now seems that within a period of only five centuries the pristine cover of palm forest had been entirely denuded, most of the endemic land fauna had been driven to extinction, and the once vast seabird nesting colonies had extirpated through overexploitation. Given the likely connection of this environmental destruction to increasing technological and social demands, the current study reinforces the idea that Easter Island can be viewed as a telling historical microcosm of the present global environmental crisis.