New research denies collapse of Easter Island society due to internal wars

The team gathered the data from their field research in an article published in the Journal of Pacific Archeology.

The aboriginal society of Easter Island (Chile) remained well structured until the arrival of the first European settlers in the eighteenth century and, contrary to what was believed until now, did not succumb to internal wars.

A group of scientists from Australia and the USA has arrived at this idea after studying the quarries of basalt and obsidian from which the autochthonous culture extracted minerals, as well as the tools found in them.

The team gathered the data from their field research in an article published in the Journal of Pacific Archeology. The research was not only archaeological but also included the geochemical and radiometric analysis of the recent findings related to the construction of the Moai, the colossal anthropomorphic sculptures that are found throughout the island.

Both the Dutch navigators who arrived on Easter Island in 1722 and the last books published on this piece of land of 170 square kilometers ensured that the local population had succumbed to barbarism and cannibalism. Historians assumed that the insular civilization had collapsed shortly before the beginning of the eighteenth century because of the depletion of food and timber resources.

The idea of rivalry and decadence on Easter Island could be somewhat exaggerated, said the lead author of the new research, Dale Simpson, an archaeologist at the University of Queensland (Australia) quoted phys.org. In his opinion, the industry that existed around the stone sculptures is solid proof that there was cooperation between families and artisan groups.

What allowed him to reach this conclusion was the spectrometry of a kind of stone axes called 'Toki', which allowed him to determine that all these tools came from the same area, where the quarries were but were used in different parts of the island.

In his view, the fact that all artisans used a type of stone is a sign of "large-scale cooperation" between them and indicates that they shared information. In addition, it seems that the islanders were well organized and equipped, and had a considerable amount of materials.

The new discovery - more than 1,600 tools and the results of its selective analysis - contradicts the opinion that the aborigines only sought to destroy each other. Even when this society was later decimated by the settlers and slaves, the Rapa Nui culture persisted, the scientist says.