Researchers revise timing of Easter island's societal collapse
5-FEB-2020
Team led by University of Oregon doctoral student says new evidence, based on statistical modeling of radiocarbon dates, shows the island's monument-building culture was thriving when Europeans arrived
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
EUGENE, Ore. - Feb. 6, 2020 - The prehistoric collapse of Easter Island's monument-building society did not occur as long thought, according to a fresh look at evidence by researchers at four institutions.
"The general thinking has been that the society that Europeans saw when they first showed up was one that had collapsed," said Robert J. DiNapoli, a doctoral candidate in the University of Oregon's Department of Anthropology who led the analysis. "Our conclusion is that monument-building and investment were still important parts of their lives when these visitors arrived."
Easter Island, a Chilean territory also known as Rapa Nui, is located about 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) from South America and 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) from any other inhabited island.
Rapa Nui is believed to have been settled in the 13th century by Polynesian seafarers. They soon began building massive stone platforms stacked with megalithic statues and large, cylindrical stone hats that were used for cultural and religious rituals, including burial and cremation. A widely-held narrative is that monument construction stopped around 1600 after a major societal collapse.
More:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-02/uoo-rrt020520.php
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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/
It was shocking when they discovered below the giant heads are actually shoulders, torsos, etc. underground. Astonishing.
Thank you, s.f. 
