Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2023 - 54

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
INSTITUTE
OF AMERICA
UNCOVERING
EASTER
ISLAND
An insider's
look at one
of the world's
most remote
archaeological
sites
We know you loved Uncovering Troy and
Uncovering Pylos, the previous publications
in the Archaeological Institute of America's
Uncovering series. We are excited to bring you
the newest edition, Uncovering Easter Island,
a richly illustrated story of daring exploration,
groundbreaking excavations, and the thriving
traditions of the Rapanui people in one of the
most remote places on Earth. Discover how the
ancient Rapanui created and transported their
iconic giant statues and learn how the modern
Rapanui are being reunited with their cultural
heritage and continuing the rituals of their
extraordinary culture.
UNCOVERING EASTER ISLAND
UNCOVERING EASTER ISLAND
UNCOVERING EASTER ISLAND
UNCOVERING EASTER ISLAND
UNCOVERING EASTER ISLAND
ishment at the island's
enormous stone statues
and puzzled over how
they were made. He
described in his journal
a treeless landscape
unable to supply the
ropes, timber, and other
resources that such an
achievement would have
required.
European infringement
forever changed
the history of Rapa Nui.
Throughout the rest of
the eighteenth century,
three other European
expeditions landed on
Easter Island-French, Spanish, and
English, this last being led by the most
famous explorer of the time, James Cook.
These parties all noted the island's seemingly
barren terrain and were awestruck
by the size of the statues they encountered.
During the following century, the
Rapanui no longer remained in isolation
as missionization and
colonization took a toll
on their way of life.
The first archaeKatherine
Routledge
ological inventory of
the island's megalithic
architecture and statues
occurred in 1886 when
the USS Mohican
stopped there specifically
to explore its
landscape and collect a
statue. Led by paymaster
William J. Thomson,
a crew of American
sailors surveyed the
island on behalf of the
Smithsonian Institution.
The team counted over 500 stone
monuments and described houses as well
as rock art in the form of pictographs
and petroglyphs. Thomson authored a
report still used by researchers today
and brought back objects that form an
important part of the Smithsonian's
Pacific collections. As a consequence of
Excavations led by Thor Heyerdahl (2nd from left) in 1986
the USS Mohican's voyage, global interest
in Easter Island grew significantly.
An even more intensive archaeological
and anthropological expedition was
initiated by pioneering English archaeologist
Katherine Routledge and her
husband, William Scoresby Routledge.
Over the course of a year and a half,
from March 1914 to August 1915, the
Routledges carried out excavations and
surveys of the island. Katherine interviewed
a core group of about 12 Rapanui
elders in order to record native oral
traditions and legends and to salvage
what she called the " living memory " of
the past. She published The Mystery of
Easter Island in 1919, a groundbreaking
book that remains a key scholarly source
as well as a readable overview of Rapa
Nui archaeology.
Perhaps the best-known figure to
The Routledges' 1914-1915 Mana Expedition to Easter Island
Archaeological Institute of America | 10 | archaeological.org
study Easter Island's archaeology was
the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.
From 1955 to 1956, Heyerdahl led a team
of international archaeologists on the
Norwegian Archaeological Expedition.
They conducted extensive research across
the island, which included producing the
archaeological.org
first radiocarbon dated material from
Easter Island. Heyerdahl and his team
also carried out experimental projects,
including one that was focused on solving
the riddle of how the Rapanui created
and transported their megalithic statues.
Heyerdahl had originally made
international headlines in 1947 when
he built an experimental raft, Kon Tiki,
from balsa logs and sailed it from Peru
to the Tuamotu Archipelago in Polynesia.
His goal was to prove his hypothesis
that pre-Columbian South Americans
were capable of reaching and settling the
remote Polynesian islands, a proposition
rejected by archaeologists at the time.
While he successfully made the journey
in his primitive craft, no hard archaeological
evidence has emerged to support
his theory.
However, the question of the Polynesians'
contact with South America is
still open, at least from the perspective
of plant genetics. There is no doubt that
voyagers from the west settled Central
and Eastern Polynesia, but the presence
of the sweet potato (Ipomoea battatas)
on Easter Island somewhat complicates
| 11 |
Archaeological Institute of America
One aspect of those excavations
is the conservation
program supported by a
major grant from the Archaeological
Institute of America.
Our all-Rapanui excavation
team was led by Arévalo
Pakarati and included
Rapanui students as well as
honored elders. Our finds
have clarified issues related
to statue carving and conservation,
and point toward new
methods of preservation.
We recovered hundreds of
carving tools, important
macrobotanical evidence,
and even an entirely new sculpture.
This outreach and hands-on experience
has offered young people an introduction
to field and lab methods, created a local
gallery in which replication of museum
objects is an important teaching tool in the
recovery of past arts, and encouraged the
next Rapanui generation in ongoing efforts
to preserve their patrimony as a cultural
treasure.
Today's worldwide population movements
and ancient Pacific voyaging history
have some causal factors in common.
For example, we know that people migrate
because of unequal social structures,
inequitable resource management, and
natural environmental crises that often
create famine, class competition, and
violence. A basic desire to survive drives
Rano Raraku:
The Birthplace of the
Moai
Pen and ink drawing of Moai RR-0001-199 by EISP's Cristián
Arévalo Pakarati
humans, today and in the past, to seek new
places and make new lives. My challenge
as a researcher is to do my best to add
new data to the efforts being made by
scientists in many fields as they collaborate
with the Rapanui community. We are
seeking to reconstruct the past, sketch
a probable chronology and sequence
of settlement, plot the resultant human
geography, and examine some aspects of
adaptation, regeneration, and sustainability
that are visible when walking the Rapa Nui
landscape. My interpretive tools include
the context provided by salvaged early
ethnohistorical observations of Katherine
Routledge, the collected and preserved oral
traditions of Rapanui elders, and museum
objects. Importantly, Rapanui archaeological
colleagues Sergio Rapu Haoa and Sonia
Haoa Cardinali have led their own
major fieldwork campaigns, initiated
community participation programs,
and implemented local site
management. The future depends
upon such informed leadership,
and the next generation of talented
Rapanui people has a major opportunity
to manage the extensive
archaeological record revealed by
a century of cooperative international
scientific dedication.
-Jo Anne Van Tilburg
EISP's excavation of a moai
Archaeological Institute of America
| 14 | archaeological.org
ABOVE: Rano Raraku
archaeological.org
| 15 | Archaeological Institute of America
ABOVE: Moai from Ahu Nau Nau with replica coral and red stone eyes
Archaeological Institute of America | 22 | archaeological.org
Ahu Tahai (front) and Ahu Vai Uri (rear)
archaeological.org | 23 | Archaeological Institute of America
pukao could weigh several tons and were
carved from the bright red scoria stone
that was quarried at the site of Puna
Pau. Archaeologists assume they represent
a type of hat, headdress, or topknot
that may have signified the particularly
high status of the deceased ancestor,
commemorate the group's particularly
important accomplishments, or as a way
to distinguish the statuary of one group's
ahu from that of its neighbors.
The moai were raised atop the ahu
with their backs to the sea and their
watchful gazes fixed inland on the
houses and territory of their descendants.
Although the statues of Easter
Island have rightfully garnered the most
attention, the ahu are no less impressive.
Apart from the sculptures, they are the
most prominent and visible features of
the archaeological landscape. Ahu are
found around almost the entire circumference
of the island, built parallel to the
shore, with an average distance apart of
about a half mile. A few may have been
oriented toward important astronomical
events, such as the solstice, equinox,
sunrise, or sunset. They are commonly
thought of simply as the platforms that
held moai, but the ahu were important
ceremonial sites, mortuary temples, and
the political, religious, and social center
of each community.
There are over 300 known ahu,
although only around 125 of them are
what archaeologist Katherine Routledge
called " image ahu, " which were
used to display the upright statues.
These impressive structures typically
had substantial rear retaining walls
on the seaward side. Some were built
of massive close-fitting blocks of stone
that could weigh up to 10 tons. The ahu
needed to be extremely well-built and
strong enough to support the weight
of the multiton moai perched on them.
Ahu:
J
o Anne VAn Tilburg And The
Easter Island Statue Project
(EISP) team first conducted
research in the Rano Raraku
quarry in 1983, but since 2002
this iconic location has been their main
focus. Rano Raraku is a semicircular
volcanic feature located in an area known
as Hotu-iti in the eastern part of the
island. It is one of the most recognizable
geological features of Easter Island. It is
also one of the world's most extraordinary
and evocative archaeological sites.
This spot was sacred to the Rapanui for
many reasons but especially because it
was the source of stone from which the
overwhelming majority of the island's
moai were carved. Approximately 1,000
moai are documented on Easter Island
and about 95 percent of them were made
at Rano Raraku. Rano Raraku stone is
a yellowish tuff, a material formed from
condensed layers of volcanic ash and
lapilli ejected during past eruptions. The
soft, porous, and relatively light volcanic
stone made an ideal material from which
to sculpt the giant figures. Unfortunately,
it also makes each statue extremely
The Ceremonial
Platforms
T
he intended destinations
of many moai were large
stone altars or platforms
known as ahu, which were
typically located along the
coast. These structures were built on the
private land of individual lineage groups
or tribes and were used to display each
group's revered ancestors. Only after
the moai were transported across the
landscape were the finishing touches
added. When the statues arrived at the
ahu on which they would reside, Rapanui
sculptors hollowed and shaped the eye
sockets and, in some instances, inlaid
white coral eyes with red stone pupils.
These final details may have represented
the spiritual awakening of the moai, the
moment the ancestor was brought back
to life. A cylindrical red stone, known as
a pukao, was also placed atop the heads
of several dozen distinct moai. These
Be among the first to receive a copy of
Uncovering Easter Island
with a gift of $35 or more.
Visit archaeological.org/donate
to make your gift today!
The AIA thanks Richard C. MacDonald for his generous support of the Uncovering Easter Island Project.

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Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - May/June 2023