The articles in this edited volume challenge the myth that Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is an archetype of societal collapse following ecocide—namely, following the catastrophic clearance of preexisting palm-dominated forests and the extinction of the Jubaea chilensis–like Paschalococos disperta palm, as portrayed in the popular narratives of Jared Diamond, among others. Here, contributors go beyond such popular discourses, to look behind the iconic moai, pukao, and ahu—the stone head statues with scoria topknots erected on stone platforms—and shed light on the “smallest details” in how Rapanui (the people) created “a sustainable and innovative world” (editors’ introduction, p. 2).
In this review, I switch discussion of Chapter 4 (John Flenley and Kevin Butler) with Chapter 1 by Christopher Stevenson and colleagues, because the former provides a long-term environmental baseline, and the latter leads more directly into Joan Wozniak's (Chapter 5) discussion of agronomic innovations.
Flenley and Butler (Chapter 4) reanalyze a core from Rano Kau, a wetland inside a volcanic crater that documents environmental transformations spanning approximately the last 10,500 years. Of note, they interpret a short episode of burning and drastic reduction in palm forest around AD 50–100 to potentially indicate early colonization, which is generally accepted at approximately AD 1100. The main period of anthropic deforestation (ca. AD 1350–1800) is characterized by high levels of burning, extinctions of Paschalococos palm and Sophora, drastic reductions in woody taxa, and establishment of widespread grasslands.
Andreas Mieth and Hans-Rudolf Bork (Chapter 2) present a fascinating introduction to early Polynesian adaptation to the island preceding extensive palm deforestation from roughly AD 1250 to AD 1550/1650. Advocating initial colonization at approximately AD 700–900, they propose a form of relatively sustainable “woodland gardening,” whereby cultivation of plots within the palm forest canopy persisted for hundreds of years. They suggest that people cutting down palms to drink the nutritious sap cumulatively led to island-wide deforestation.
Kathleen Ingersoll and Daniel Ingersoll (Chapter 3) assess potential nonhuman causes of palm decline. Leaving aside issues of climate change and the introduced Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans), they assess fungi, nematodes, phytoplasma, and rhinoceros beetle, given that each has been responsible for the decimation of various palm species in the Pacific and beyond. Although not definitive, their search for alternatives gives pause for thought.
Stevenson and colleagues (Chapter 1) examine soil geochemistry from an agronomic perspective for the Hiva Hiva lava flow, which is approximately 110,000 years old. A wealth of data indicates that soils formed on the lava flow were nutrient poor, with planting into the preeruptive surface important for agricultural productivity. Low crop yields led to large-scale abandonment of the lava flow around AD 1500.
Each of the next three chapters uses archaeological information to infer major transformations to Rapanui life. Wozniak (Chapter 5) documents a repertoire of agronomic innovations spurred by palm deforestation, with its attendant soil erosion, water deficits, and exposure to the sun and wind. The repertoire of innovations includes lithic mulch gardens and fields, as well as other agricultural plots containing linear or circular stone alignments and low walls (manavai). Ethnohistorical accounts anecdotally describe cultivar diversity, planting techniques, and other agricultural practices. Communities across the island variably deployed agronomic innovations to suit local environments.
The ritual site complex at Ava Ranga Uka A Toroke Hau, as discussed by Burkhard Vogt and Annette Kühlem (Chapter 6), provides a window on transformations to Rapanui worldviews and ritual life accompanying deforestation. Of significance, a pavement within a settlement and another associated with water management canals are associated with evidence of palm planting. The integration of water management and palm planting at a ritual site is significant, because both had become scarce resources by the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries AD within an increasingly deforested landscape.
Georgia Lee and colleagues (Chapter 7) document symbolic reuse of red scoria topknots (pukao) toppled from moai. Petroglyphs carved into topknots include numerous boat petroglyphs depicting European vessels, which are concentrated in places visited by Captain James Cook and Jean-François de Galaup de La Pérouse and on slopes overlooking anchorages of early European expeditions. Some carved topknots derive from statues recorded as standing during the nineteenth century AD, highlighting major transformations to preexisting beliefs and sacred places resulting from European contacts.
The final three substantive chapters take us from the earliest European encounters to the present. Jan Boersema (Chapter 8) reviews historical records derived from the earliest European expeditions—Jacob Roggeveen in 1722, Capitán Don Felipe González in 1770, Cook in 1774, and La Pérouse in 1786—to critique popular assumptions regarding Rapanui society. He systematically dismantles several popular, negative assumptions about Rapanui society and shows an absence of warfare and paucity of weapons, healthy individuals and robust population size, and no shortages of food or water—“they only cultivate what they need” (Roggeveen, cited on p. 168). Boersema concludes that Rapanui “society displayed resilience and adaptability” (p. 169) following deforestation rather than anything resembling collapse.
Rhys Richards (Chapter 9) describes the provisioning of numerous whaling ships on Rapa Nui throughout the nineteenth century, whereby fresh fruit and vegetables were exchanged for trade items. Accounts repeatedly demonstrate the availability of food surpluses to enable trade, and these exchanges were largely peaceable from the Rapanui side.
Ingersoll and colleagues (Chapter 10) effectively weaponize the multidisciplinary evidence to dismantle stereotypical ideas about Rapanui culture, especially those of Thor Heyerdahl and Jared Diamond. Ingersoll et alia consider these popular narratives as cultural labeling, libeling, and demeaning of Rapanui. Instead of negative portrayals, they state that Rapanui were not savages or cannibals; Rapanui, not an earlier group of colonists, built the moai, ahu, and pukao; deforestation did lead to soil erosion and water deficits but also to new agronomic and cultural innovations; and populations did not crash with deforestation. They assert that Europeans and other outsiders were primarily responsible for the collapse of Rapanui culture and population.
In Chapter 11, the volume coeditors reflect on the misrepresentation of Rapanui history in popular and scientific narratives. They ask us to expand our horizons; to look beyond false, neo-catastrophic narratives about societal collapse; and to highlight the ways Rapanui culture continually transformed and adapted to its ever-changing historical conditions.
As a nonspecialist, I found the volume easy to read, extremely informative, and thought provoking. The raft of archaeological and historical information clearly undermines “collapse” narratives, which fundamentally misrepresent Rapanui history. As the coeditors note at the beginning, “Things are not always what they seem” (p. 1).
