Episode #116 – What Went Down On Easter Island? (Part I)

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as the indigenous islanders call it, may be the most misunderstood place on planet Earth. For centuries outsiders have tried to unravel what they perceived to be the islands many mysteries. How did stone age people manage to get to such a remote island? How did these people build the island’s remarkable statues? What caused this unique society to collapse? Recent research has completely upended many previous assumptions about this storied island. Was the mysterious collapse even a collapse at all? Tune in an find out how awesome canoes, ancestor mana, and OFH’s favourite ocean current all play a role in the story.

Listen on Apple Podcast

Works Cited

Cook, James, and William James Lloyd Wharton. Captain Cook’s Journal. Libraries Board of South Australia, 1968.

Diamond, Jared. Collapse. Penguin Books Ltd., 2011.

“Easter Island Facts & Info.” Easter Island Travel – Your Ultimate Tourism Resource, www.easterisland.travel/easter-island-facts-and-info/i-he-a-hotu-matua-e-hura-nei/#:~:text=e hura nei?-,¿I hē a Hotu Matu’a e hura nei?,of king Hotu Matu’a.

Fischer, Steven Roger. Island at the End of the World: the Turbulent History of Easter Island. Reaktion Books, 2010.

Flenley, John, and Paul G. Bahn. The Enigmas of Easter Island: Island on the Edge. Oxford University Press, 2003.

Garlinghouse, Tom. “Rethinking Easter Island’s Historic ‘Collapse’.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 30 May 2020, www.scientificamerican.com/article/rethinking-easter-islands-historic-collapse/.

Haedo, Felipe Gonzalez y, et al. The Voyage of Captain Don Felipe González in the Ship of the Line San Lorenzo, with the Frigate Santa Rosalia in Company, to Easter Island in 1770-1: Preceded by an Extract from Mynheer Jacob Roggeveen’s Official Log of His Discovery of and Visit to Easter Island in 1722. Literary Licensing, 2017.

Heyerdahl, Thor. Aku-Aku: the Secret of Easter Island. Unwin Hyman, 1988.

Heyerdahl, Thor. Easter Island: the Mystery Solved. Souvenir Press, 1989.Moyer, Justin Wm. “Researchers Challenge Old Theory of Easter Island Population Collapse.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 May 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/08/researchers-challenge-old-theory-of-easter-island-population-collapse/.