According to the documentary film “Easter Island - Where Giants Walked” during the early settlements of Polynesia there is evidence which suggests its society and culture thrived and flourished long before European contact. One such example is Rapa Nui. Although earlier archaeological theories favored narratives like cannibalism due to over zealous construction and transportation of the moais; and as a result, spiraled into a “lost civilization” However, with new information, such theories also become updated. 

For example, in Easter Island Farmers Cultivated Social Resilience Not Collapse by Bruce Bower, it provides a fuller picture of what may have occurred on the remote island. For one, while deforestation and heavy land clearing may have taken place by 1550, the people of Rapa Nui continued to cultivate the land for farming.  Energy rich foods like sweet potatoes, taro and sugar cane were more a productive food source than what could be foraged from the forest. 

As a result, the land clearing was a way to farm the land. For instance, anthropologist Mara Mulrooney’s investigation included 15 new radiocarbon dates from excavation sites that suggests farmers in Rapa Nui adjusted to loss of deforestation. Furthermore her findings indicate foreign contact in the age of colonialism, such as Captain Cook’s arrival brought along with it infectious diseases that contributed to the population decline. Furthermore, Carl Lipo highlights that the society did not collapse due to internal factors as originally theorized because “...there is no scientific basis for that.” 

However, a more recent scientific finding and theory suggests, the early Polynesian seafarers brought with them four animals: chicken, dogs, pigs and rats. As a source of protein on long voyages, findings suggest the terrain of the island for the rats enabled them to reproduce quickly as they ate palm nuts being a favorite food supply. Furthermore in the caves of Anakena beach, anthropologists have discovered the tooth marks of rats on the palm nuts. And while the loss of biodiversity presented its challenges for the people of Rapa Nui, they overcame it with ingenuity and creativity by planting gardens, orchards, and farm land. For example, archaeologists have found usage of farming palm trees in dedicated areas, and a technique known as rock mulching. 

For instance, the gathered rock wall surrounded the garden bed for the soil to not wash away or evaporate quickly and retain the nutrients in the soil.  Another interesting characteristic of the island are the lava tube caves. Rapa Nui hosts one of the largest lava tube caves and evidence suggests that the early natives utilized the caves to also grow crops where they cultivated vast underground gardens for sweet potatoes and yams to supplement their diet.

Photo credit: Creative Commons use, Wikipedia, Rapa Nui