Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on earth, easter island, located in the midpacific ocean, was, for most of its history, one of the most isolated its inhabitants, the rapa nui, have endured famines, epidemics of disease and cannibalism, civil war, environmental collapse, slave raids, various colonial contacts, and have seen their population crash on more than one occasi. The longfingered hands, depicted at exactly the same angle and position on the body as the stylized arms on some of the megaliths at gobekli tepe, can be seen at the left side of the image above and in even better detail in some of the images in the latest graham hancock book and in the thor heyerdahl book linked above. They speak both the traditional rapa nui language and the primary. Exploring the cultural and spritual cosmos of ancient rapa nui. Easter island statues, history and art at manchester museum written by james wiener easter island or rapa nui is among the most remote islands in the world, located some 3541 kilometers 2,200 miles off the coast of chile in the pacific ocean. Researchers have discovered that rapa nui was once a dense forested island. To early travelers, the spectacle of immense stone figures, at once serenely. Sep 14, 2017 the book starts with the ancient history of the island including population by polynesians to the civil unrest and eventual decline of the rapa nui society and subsequent contact with the europeans before moving to modern eras covering annexation and colonization by chile and the rapa nui fight for civil rights in recent history. Although the culture of gobekli tepe and rapa nui are separated by over 10,000 years of time, the similarity of sculptural works may indicate a possible common ancestry. Rapa nui exploring and mapping its ancient villages. In the 1960s the islanders grievances included unpaid labor, travel restrictions, suppression of the rapanui language, ineligibility to vote chilean universal.
History, traditions, texts by steven roger fischer. The festival is meant to celebrate and carry on the history, customs, lore, dance, song and heritage of rapa nui. Oct 12, 2017 this is a valuable work as it presents the first ancient whole genome data from rapa nui, victor morenomayar, a geneticist at the natural history museum of denmark, said in an email. In easter island dna, evidence of genetic loneliness the. The turbulent history of easter island 9781861892829. Famous for its mysterious yet iconic statues moai, easter island is currently the subject of a new exhibition at manchester museum in manchester, uk. Reveling in the enigmatic beauty of easter island the new. Spanish is the most widely spoken language on easter island and the primary language of education and administration. How could the ancient people who inhabited this tiny speck of land, the most. When the universe was an island exploring the cultural and. See more ideas about easter island, island, polynesian islands. Approximately 750,000 years ago three volcanoes converged to form easter island, also called rapa nui. Easter island natives were sophisticated and peaceful, new.
Pictures were taken at three festivals, 2006, 2012, and 2020. The main stories of rapa nui mythology are that of hotu matua, believed to be the first settler of easter island, and the tangata manu. According to diamond and heyerdahls version of the islands history, the huri. If you are planning a trip or just interested in rapa nui, this book by roger fischer is a great overview of all the historical research, presented in an easy to follow format. Rapa nui the easter island legend on film book book details. Explore easter island rapa nui holidays and discover the best time and places to visit. Thanks to its geography, the southeastern pacific island of rapa nui also known as easter island has been in the center of a longrunning debate about how early people may have sailed back and forth across the planets biggest ocean. Its the mysterious demise of a clever civilization that once flourished on the tiny island that has generated prizewinning books, films, and competing scientific investigations. This detailed list of best easter island books includes resources to plan self guided tours and recommended must reading to understand the history of easter island. Endowed with the most logicdefying statues on the planet the strikingly familiar moai easter island rapa nui to its native polynesian inhabitants emanates.
One theory suggested that, long before europeans arrived, the island was a meeting point for polynesians and native americans. It is subtitled a concise guide to the history culture and individual archaeological sites of rapa nui and it i. Of volcanic origin, easter island is mostly covered with grasslands and is swept by strong trade winds. This detailed list of best easter island books includes resources to plan selfguided tours and recommended must reading to understand the history of easter island.
Experience an indepth discovery of the archaeological sites on rapa nui including three notable temples and the most mysterious site, ahu vinapu. It is the easternmost outpost of the polynesian island world. This will be one of the most unique and significant courses ancient explorations has ever offered. In this page we will collect the most known aspects of this fascinating culture. Easter island is an island and special territory of chile in the southeastern pacific ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the polynesian triangle in oceania. According to rapa nui mythology hotu matua was the legendary first settler and ariki mau supreme chief or king of easter island. This book aims to show you the archeological masterpieces and the living traditions carried on in a continuum from ancient to modern in the form of the tapati festival. I excitedly dove into reading about rapa nuis monuments, history, and mysteries. Very little is known about the rapa nui language prior to european contact. History, origin and extent of soil erosion on easter island rapa nui. The island stands in isolation 1,200 miles 1,900 kilometres east of pitcairn island and 2,200 miles west of chile. Archaeologists describe a technique that the ancient rapa nui may have used to leverage the hats on the islands giant. In 1995, unesco named easter island a world heritage site. History of rapa nui easter island lonely planet travel.
List of books and articles about easter island online. A look at the making of rapa nui, which speculates on the native inhabitants of easter island, who built strange giant statues before the dutch arrived in 1722. Nui had european and amerindian contributions to their dna during or before the early 1800s. This book is perfect for anyone planning a trip to the island as well as those wishing to. Moai tangata, rapa nui illustration ancient history. At the ahu tongariki, the largest structure in rapa nui, the central. They were skilled farmers, employing careful agricultural techniques to feed large. Jun 5, 2018 how easter islands mysterious statues got their 12ton hats. Located in the southeastern pacific ocean, the chilean island covers just. Our community welcomes everyone from around the world to discuss world history, historical periods, and themes in history military history, archaeology, arts and culture, and history in books and movies. Rapa nui is a minority language, as most rapa nui people speak spanish as their first language. Creative commons attributionnoncommercialsharealike. The secrets of easter island history smithsonian magazine.
When i visited in 2008, it took nearly 20 hours of travel to. This book about the island gives a great insight into early. In the book, routledge and her companions explore the secret caves, ancient roads. Polynesians took to the sea and made the long journey in their large, sturdy canoes. The rapa nui are the aboriginal polynesian inhabitants of easter island in the pacific ocean. In addition to visiting and learning about the amazing moai statues of rapa nui, course participants will assist a professional survey crew in mapping the islands ancient villages. Aug, 2018 a new study into the indigenous people of easter island has revealed that they were a sophisticated and peaceful society. The easternmost polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of easter island make up about 60% of the current easter island population and have a significant portion of their population residing in mainland chile. Sep 01, 2014 modem archaeological scientists and engineers try and recreate and decipher the mystery of easter islands moai statues by experimenting with archaic engineering methods and mysterious practices. The majority of rapa nui vocabulary is inherited directly from protoeastern polynesian. A number of bird and mammal species also went extinct, the result of a prolonged period of overexploitation that would have serious consequences on the community. The natives were fenced in around guarded borders in the area that today is the town of hanga roa to prevent sheep theft. As i came to the academic literature with minimal specific knowledge, but with archaeological and historical experience in other areas, i found the history of interpretations of easter island particularly fascinating.
Easter island or rapa nui is among the most remote islands in the world, located some 3541 kilometers 2,200 miles off the coast of chile in the pacific ocean. Easter island ancient dna shoots down one rapanui theory. Centuries ago, the ancient civilization on rapa nui, the traditional name of easter island, was thriving. List of books and articles about easter island online research. Hotu matua and his two canoe or one double hulled canoe colonising party were polynesians from the now unknown land of hiva. Gobekli tepe, rapa nui, and the mythological evidence for. Scientist john flenley and his colleagues drilled cores deep into lake sediments and examined ancient pollen grains preserved there. Many people are confused about what to read about easter island, so here are a few notes about books that i have found useful. Easter island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early rapa nui people. He is a cofounder of ancient history encyclopedia and formerly was its communications director. As a matter of fact, nobody to date has written a detailed history of these traumatic events.
Despite hundreds of books and thousands of papers on the mysteries of easter island, this genocide which wiped out rapa nuis civilisation has been largely ignored. Polynesian settlers coming from the west in the early a. One of the most important recent books written about the language of rapa nui is veronica du feus rapanui descriptive grammar isbn 0415000114. Aug 16, 2016 moai builders are very ancient people from the times there were one people one language all over the earth. Discover the wealth of archaeological history with historians in peru at ruins of pisac, sacsayhuaman and ollantaytambo in the heart of the incas sacred valley. They have attempted to reconstruct, layer by layer, the history of vegetation on the island.
Ahu, the ceremonial center of easter island imagina rapa nui. Ancient origins articles related to rapa nui in the sections of history, archaeology, human origins, unexplained, artifacts, ancient places and myths and legends. Named easter island by the dutch explorer jacob roggeveen, who first spied it on. Rapa nui remained under military rule until the mid1960s, followed by a brief period of civilian government until the military coup of 1973 once again brought direct military control.
Platform modifications often incorporated recycled moai bodies or heads from earlier stages, such as the ahu nau nau at anakena beach, and pieces of ancient foundations of boathouses or hare paenga in several ahu moai, the ends of the platform were extended with lower structures or small ramps forming lateral wings. Rongo comes from ranga and has the meaning of signs of godess ra allmother of ancient bulgarians ran run ron written on earth ga. Its extreme isolation and the abuse suffered by its inhabitants in not very distant times caused that very little is known about the original rapa nui culture and its ancient traditions. Rapa nui people are the people of rabana, our godess ra and they speak a latest development of ancient bulgarian language very much alike to today arabic language whereas rabana still means the same our god. The indispensable guidebook to the islands is a short book a companion to easter island by scottish enthusiast james grant peterkin. Moai from easter island illustration ancient history. Founded in 2006, historum is a history forum dedicated to history discussions and historical events. Its hard to feel connected to chile, over 3700km to the east, let alone the wider world. Score a books total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. But though they remain largely dispossessed, the rapa nui people have reemerged from the shadows of the past, recovering and reinventing their ancient art and culture. Sep 14, 2019 explore eddiejobracks board rapa nui warrior easter island. The tangata manu is the mythology of the birdman religion and cult which had creator god makemake and competition with eggs to choose the birdman who would remain sacred for five months.
Apr 27, 2020 some 2,200 miles off the coast of chile, rapa nui, also known as easter island, is among the worlds most remote inhabited islands. It is believed that rapa nui is currently undergoing a shift toward more spanish sentence structure. The sculpture and architecture of rapa nui book book details. You really will not be able to put it down as the islands history if fascinating, and sad. The rapa nui people drove up to 22 species of native trees into extinction, most likely to clear land for agriculture and harvest wood for construction.
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