Rapa Nui Research Paper

The Island of Rapa Nui, or known as Easter Island, is a small island located the south-easternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle, which is comprised of Hawai’I, Aukland Island and Rapa Nui (Hamilton,). Hamilton states that the island was initially inhabited Polynesians, who were sailing eastward. However, it is debated specifically where these Polynesians came from, and furthermore, it is disputed when Rapa Nui was colonized. Initially, through glottochronology, dated stratified finds and radiocarbon dates, archaeologists narrowed the colonization date to approximately 800 AD (Hamilton, ). However, there is some question to this date because there is recent archaeological evidence — eight radiocarbon samples from ‘Anakena (a location …show more content…
Also, from this lack of archaeological evidence numerous scientific and archaeological based theories — that conflict with one another— have risen, trying to explain the collapse of the Rapa Nui civilization. Hysterically, the lack of evidence has also brought out a significant amount conspiracy theories and fraudulent archaeology that have no scientific background or bases for discussion, and therefore, the comic relief of Ancient Aliens and Erich von Däniken will not be included in this discussion. Nevertheless, the theories, that will be discussed, concerning the collapse of Rapa Nui, all have archaeological and scientific support. These theories include: Jared Diamond’s (citation) “Ecocide Theory,” Benny Peiser’s “Genocide” Theory, Bruce Bower (citation), who summarized Carl Lipo’s findings on Rapa Nui and stated that the Rapa Nui civilization did not collapse and Lipo’s and Hunt’s (citation) “seed consumption” …show more content…
Even though he does not describe a potential collapse, he emphasized and summarized research that was conducted by Carl Lipo and concluded that Diamond’s warring point held no ground. Diamond referenced mata’a (obsidian points with no standardization) as the main weapon used during internal warfare battles, but what he believed to be the indication of warfare right after an ecological collapse has been proven to be much later, decades after European contact (citation). Instead of warfare, it is believed that the mata’a were used as a multipurpose tool for cutting off bark from trees, cultivating crops like sweet potato, or cutting ritualistic designs into people (citation). Even though Bower and other research hers cannot completely rule out warfare, but the popular consensus is that they were used for non-lethal purposes