East Polynesian Islands as Models of Cultural Divergence: The Case of Rapa Nui and Rapa Iti

DiNapoli, Robert J.; Morrison, Alex; Lipo, Carl P.; Hunt, Terry L.; Lane, Brian G.

doi:10.1080/15564894.2016.1276490

Cited by 27 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…These findings are significant as they highlight the resilience of Rapa Nui communities following the devastating demographic impacts following European arrival (e.g., Fischer, 2005;Hunt and Lipo, 2011;Peiser, 2005;Rainbird, 2002). Indeed, the steady continuous nature of construction of ahu features in the history of Rapa Nui strongly supports an emerging model in which this group-level activity served as a vital component of communities necessary for long term sustainability on this tiny and remote island (DiNapoli et al, 2019(DiNapoli et al, , 2018Hunt andLipo, 2018, 2011).…”

Section: The Onset Tempo and End Of Ahu Construction Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…A core component of this narrative is the rapid destruction of monuments and end of ahu and moai construction, a time period termed the "Huri Moai," literally 'statue toppling,' phase Flenley, 1992, 2017;Diamond, 2005;Flenley and Bahn, 2003;Kirch, 1984Kirch, , 2017Smith, 1961a). While a popular account, the lack of empirical evidence for many aspects of this narrative (Hunt, 2007;Hunt and Lipo, 2011;Mulrooney, 2013;Mulrooney et al, 2010Mulrooney et al, , 2009 has led some to argue that monument construction was instead a key factor in the long-term persistence of pre-contact communities that only terminated as a consequence of changes following the arrival of Europeans (Boersema, 2015;DiNapoli et al, 2019DiNapoli et al, , 2018Hunt andLipo, 2018, 2011;Lipo et al, 2018;Mulrooney et al, 2010;Peiser, 2005). Despite these criticisms, the notion that the late pre-contact period on Rapa Nui was a time of severe cultural and demographic changes remains popular (e.g., Bahn and Flenley, 2017;Kirch, 2017;Puleston et al, 2017;Rull, 2018Rull, , 2016Rull et al, 2018;Scheffer, 2016).…”

Section: Background: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A model-based approach to the tempo of “collapse”: The case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

DiNapoli

Rieth

Lipo

et al. 2020

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) presents a quintessential case where the tempo of investment in monumentality is central to debates regarding societal collapse, with the common narrative positing that statue platform (ahu) construction ceased sometime around AD 1600 following an ecological, cultural, and demographic catastrophe. This narrative remains especially popular in fields outside archaeology that treat collapse as historical fact and use Rapa Nui as a model for collapse more generally. Resolving the tempo of "collapse" events, however, is often fraught with ambiguity given a lack of formal modeling, uncritical use of radiocarbon estimates, and inattention to information embedded in stratigraphic features. Here, we use a Bayesian model-based approach to examine the tempo of events associated with arguments about collapse on Rapa Nui. We integrate radiocarbon dates, relative architectural stratigraphy, and ethnohistoric accounts to quantify the onset, rate, and end of monument construction as a means of testing the collapse hypothesis. We demonstrate that ahu construction began soon after colonization and increased rapidly, sometime between the early-14th and mid-15th centuries AD, with a steady rate of construction events that continued beyond European contact in 1722. Our results demonstrate a lack of evidence for a pre-contact 'collapse' and instead offer strong support for a new emerging model of resilient communities that continued their long-term traditions despite the impacts of European arrival. Methodologically, our model-based approach to testing hypotheses regarding the chronology of collapse can be extended to other case studies around the world where similar debates remain difficult to resolve.

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Section: The Onset Tempo and End Of Ahu Construction Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Background: Rapa Nui (Easter Island)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A model-based approach to the tempo of “collapse”: The case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

DiNapoli

Rieth

Lipo

et al. 2020

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…The relationship between the island’s subsistence resources and temporal and spatial patterns of monument construction, however, remain largely untested, which represents a significant limitation in our understanding of Rapa Nui’s history. Yet, like other oceanic islands, Rapa Nui can offer a model system for understanding human-environment interactions, including the ecological factors underlying monument construction [17,21–23]. Accordingly, the current work is concerned with beginning to test the hypothesis that Rapa Nui’s monumental architecture served as territorial signals of control over subsistence resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) monument (ahu) locations explained by freshwater sources

et al. 2019

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Explaining the processes underlying the emergence of monument construction is a major theme in contemporary anthropological archaeology, and recent studies have employed spatially-explicit modeling to explain these patterns. Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) is famous for its elaborate ritual architecture, particularly numerous monumental platforms (ahu) and statuary (moai). To date, however, we lack explicit modeling to explain spatial and temporal aspects of monument construction. Here, we use spatially-explicit point-process modeling to explore the potential relations between ahu construction locations and subsistence resources, namely, rock mulch agricultural gardens, marine resources, and freshwater sources—the three most critical resources on Rapa Nui. Through these analyses, we demonstrate the central importance of coastal freshwater seeps for precontact populations. Our results suggest that ahu locations are most parsimoniously explained by distance from freshwater sources, in particular coastal seeps, with important implications for community formation and inter-community competition in precontact times.

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“…Using this ethnohistoric information, in combination with recently published hydrogeological data (Brosnan et al 2018), we now have a solid basis for generating hypotheses about how patterns in the archaeological record relate to freshwater access. For example, it is worth considering how the spatial distribution of communit patterning, in particular Rapa Nui s dispersed settlement pattern (organised around group-level competitive and cooperative behaviour connected to ahu), may be related to the constraints imposed by the locations of fresh water on the island (e.g., DiNapoli et al 2018: 216-17 unt and ipo 2018McCo 1976. Our recent spatial analysis of the relationship between ahu and different environmental variables suggests that ahu locations are closely tied to the availability of fresh water and coastal freshwater sources in particular (DiNapoli et al 2019).…”

Section: E Re I E Im or Nce Of R N I Fre Er O Rcementioning

confidence: 99%

The ethnohistory of freshwater use on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile)

Hixon

DiNapoli

Lipo

et al. 2019

jps

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Sources of drinking water on islands often present critical constraints to human habitation. On Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile), there is remarkably little surface fresh water due to the nature of the island's volcanic geology. While several lakes exist in volcanic craters, most rainwater quickly passes into the subsurface and emerges at coastal springs. Nevertheless, the island sustained a relatively large human population for hundreds of years, one that built an impressive array of monumental platforms (ahu) and statues (moai). To understand how Rapanui acquired their scarce fresh water, we review ethnohistoric data from first European arrival (1722) through the mid-twentieth century. Ethnohistoric accounts identify a diversity of freshwater sources and describe various Rapanui freshwater management strategies. Our findings highlight the importance of coastal freshwater seeps and provide much-needed insight into how Rapanui procured this vital and necessary resource.

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East Polynesian Islands as Models of Cultural Divergence: The Case of Rapa Nui and Rapa Iti

Cited by 27 publications

References 67 publications

A model-based approach to the tempo of “collapse”: The case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

A model-based approach to the tempo of “collapse”: The case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) monument (ahu) locations explained by freshwater sources

The ethnohistory of freshwater use on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile)

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