[books 2013] The Statues That Walked
28. The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo
Everything you think you know about Easter Island is wrong. As shown by basic actual scientific observations.
It was never some tropical paradise trashed by the Polynesians - the soil is poor and there is little water; the fact that it was successfully colonised at all is a testament to how good they were at making a little go a long way. Though the rats that came with them did enormous damage, as elsewhere on Pacific islands. Endemic warfare? No evidence in skeletal remains found thus far. I could go on.
Hunt and Lipo's argument for how the moai were moved is apparently controversial but I find it fairly compelling.
This is a short, up to date book for the general reader. Definitely recommended.
Everything you think you know about Easter Island is wrong. As shown by basic actual scientific observations.
It was never some tropical paradise trashed by the Polynesians - the soil is poor and there is little water; the fact that it was successfully colonised at all is a testament to how good they were at making a little go a long way. Though the rats that came with them did enormous damage, as elsewhere on Pacific islands. Endemic warfare? No evidence in skeletal remains found thus far. I could go on.
Hunt and Lipo's argument for how the moai were moved is apparently controversial but I find it fairly compelling.
This is a short, up to date book for the general reader. Definitely recommended.