Researchers revise timing of Easter island's societal collapse

[Judi Lynn]

1. Researchers Piece Together What Happened On Rapa Nui Following European Contact

Madison Dapcevich
By Madison Dapcevich
06 FEB 2020, 21:23

Located just off the coast of Chile, the island of Rapa Nui holds secrets that continue to mystify archaeologists to this day. Who were its inhabitants and why did they build the enigmatic giant-headed statues known as moai? More importantly, what happened to the ancient society?

New research from an international team of scientists now attempts to answer those questions, proposing that the people of Easter Island were extremely resilient in the face of great tragedy.

Rapa Nui is known for its elaborate architecture, particularly the nearly 1,000 moai statues and hundreds of large ahu platforms that support them. There are a number of theories as to why the giant stone statues were constructed. The scientific community largely agrees that the statues were built to serve as a focal point for social and ritual activity, possibly to encourage fertile soil conditions or point to freshwater sources. Previous theories thought that the construction of the statues ceased sometime in the 1600s following a major societal collapse of ecological or cultural catastrophe – a hypothesis that scientists are now calling into question.

To determine when and how quickly the people of Rapa Nui ceased constructing monuments, researchers examined ahu radiocarbon dates, architectural stratigraphy, and ethnohistoric accounts of the island.

More:
https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/researchers-piece-together-what-happened-on-rapa-nui-following-european-contact/