Archaeology at the Center of the World: Advances in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Research Symposium to be presented at the 67^th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Denver, Colorado, March 20-24, 2002. (organized by J. Dudgeon, J. Mikulanec & T. Hunt)

Session Abstract

The Island of Rapa Nui (Easter) is among the most isolated places on Earth.Yet, it has seen a long and intensive history of archaeological research. Thus, we know a great deal about the islandís archaeology and prehistory, but in some aspects the past remains poorly known. In this symposium we convene an international group of scholars engaged in multiple dimensions of research on Rapa Nui. The contributions focus on paleoenvironment, monumental statuary and architecture, community patterns, evolutionary change, and historical archaeology. We also address the goals of the field program initiated by the University of Hawaii. These papers reflect the recent advances and changing directions in research on this remote, yet important island.

 

Title, Author and Abstract, in order of presentation:

A Review of the Palynological and Macroscopic Evidence about the Ecological History of Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

John R. Flenley

The paper will review the palynological evidence from three volcanic craters, and the macrobotanical evidence from several archaeological and other sites. Particular attention will be paid to alternative explanations of the evidence, involving human impact and climatic change.

 

Towards a New Perspective on Rapa Nui: A Data-Rich Model for Archaeological Explanation and Reconstruction.

Claudio Cristino, Patricia Vargas and Jo Anne Van Tilburg

No coherent statement of Rapa Nui as a distinctive unit of Polynesian culture can be made without first establishing its defining characteristics. This, in turn, can only be accomplished by archaeological investigations carried out within the larger framework of systematic, theoretically sophisticated and multi-disciplinary methods. This paper critically reviews the record to date and then joins three discrete strands of inquiry and evidence: the ìdirectî historical evidence of oral history and the data-rich archaeological record with the ìinferentialî evidence of ethnology to propose an integrated model of Rapa Nui cultural history reconstruction.

 

Archaeological Data Interpretation, the Polynesian Cosmogonic Tradition and Moai Style.

Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Patricia Vargas and Claudio Cristino

The moai is a universal feature of Rapa Nui aesthetic expression, the development of which is a partial consequence of ancestry, innovation and isolation. This paper explores the modifications, elaborations and transformations of domestic and ceremonial built environment.

 

Easter Island Archaeology, the Land and the People: Three Islands in conflict.

Patricia Vargas and Claudio Cristino

An island-wide archaeological survey carried out by the authors in the past two decades has provided a unique and valuable corpus of data collected in a broad descriptive framework based upon spatial, temporal and typological relationships. This paper succinctly reviews different levels of integration, analysis and archaeological interpretation of this database. Aware of the extreme vulnerability of Easter Island's archaeological landscape it also explores and indicates multiple possibilities of integration of the survey data for analytical and conservation purposes as well as for territorial and cultural resource management, in the context of the controversial issue of current modernization processes and alleged claims for a sustainable development.

 

Territoriality and the Power of the Dead: Interpreting Changes in Rapa Nui Burial Practices

Leslie C. Shaw

The information currently available on human burials on Rapa Nui has shown that there were numerous changes in burial location and practice from the time of initial settlement through to the early historic period. While there may be functional reasons for some of these changes, such as the shift away from cremation following the decimation of tree species on the island, I propose that the Islanders also manipulated burial practices to mitigate the effects of rapid social change. I will argue that the symbolism and visual dominance of burial features was used, consciously and subconsciously, to tie together ancestral power and the maintenance of territorial boundaries.

 

Investigation of Stone Tools from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Jacce Mikulanec

In this paper I focus on three inter-related issues for stone adzes from Rapa Nui (Easter Island). First, analysis of use-wear for more than 200 adzes reveals co-occurring patterns of breakage with morphological attributes. Second, I consider potential stylistic and functional dimensions for the assemblages. And  third, I critically examine previous adze classifications for stone tools from the island and suggest a revised scheme to better reflect their form and variability. Prehistoric stone tool variability on Rapa Nui may reflect changing resource use, among other trends, in a context of human-induced deforestation.

 

The Easter Island Moai Road and Transport Systems

Charles Love

Nearly 40km of roadways were constructed and used by the prehistoric Easter Islanders. Three or four major roadways were constructed specifically so that transportation of 50 to 80 ton ancestral statues could take place. Clearing and excavation of eleven segments of two different roadways reveal a total of 300 meters of road surface characteristics. Sixteen trenches cut across the roadway show various aspects of road construction. Survey of these roadways has shown a number of structures to be associated with road activity. The characteristics of the roadbeds strongly suggest that the previous moai moving experiments by Heyerdahl, Pavel, Love, and Van Tilburg are incorrect. Several new experimental moving methods are proposed.

 

Temporal-Spatial Patterns of Investment in the Moai (statue) Industry of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

B. Leif Shepardson

The people of prehistoric Rapa Nui invested enormous energy into the production, movement, and erection of monumental statues (moai). To explain this remarkable cultural investment we must analyze its temporal and spatial dimensions in evolutionary context. Drawing on existing chronological analyses, this paper examines the spatial-temporal distribution of moai across the island. These patterns allow us to outline changing energy investment in consideration of a bet-hedging model for cultural elaboration in Rapa Nui prehistory.

 

Environmental Uncertainty and Cultural Elaboration on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

John V. Dudgeon & Terry L. Hunt

Rapa Nui prehistory saw an unprecedented degree of cultural investment in monumental statuary and architecture. The moai (statues), ahu (ceremonial structures), and other forms of elaboration appear early in the islandís sequence and reached colossal proportions before European contact. Yet Rapa Nui is among the most marginal and uncertain island environments of the Pacific. In this paper we examine this environmental uncertainty and the investments in cultural elaboration in light of an evolutionary model for bet hedging. The model offers compelling insights for Rapa Nui prehistory, but points to multiple lines of additional research critical to its evaluation.

 

Agricultural Production in an Uncertain Environment

Christopher M. Stevenson, Thegn Ladefoged, Sonia Haoa

Landscape survey and geomorphological investigations on the northern coast and central region of Easter Island has documented extensive prehistoric agricultural field systems. Rainfall variation as a result of elevational differences restricts access to wetter agricultural fields in upland areas to some chiefdom districts on the island. This context of varying uncertainty resulted in the development of a range of farming techniques to maintain high levels of production. The agricultural production strategies and settlement patterns in lowland dry areas and the moister upland are compared and a developmental model of landscape use is proposed for the AD 800-AD1850 period.

 

The Historic Stone Walls of Easter Island 1888-1940

A. Dudley Gardner, Will Gardner, and Barbara Clarke

The nature of stone construction on Easter Island has drawn the attention of many scholars. Upon the arrival of Europeans stone construction on the Island continued, but it took on vestiges of European ideals of how space should be ordered and controlled. In this paper we will look at the pircas and other stone structures built on Easter Island between 1888 and 1940. We will look at the stone walls as an example of how some prehistoric stone work technology continued into the Chilean Era. And we will focus on continuity and change and look at how Rapa Nui stone workers blended together two distinct cultural concepts of construction to build the historic walls on Easter Island.