Ever since the Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen, the first European known to have reached Easter Island, arrived in 1722, scholars have debated the origins of the isolated population he found there. Did they sail from the east, from South American soil, or from Central Polynesia to the north and west? It is daunting to imagine a voyage to Easter Island from any direction, which would have taken a minimum of two weeks, covering several thousand miles of seemingly endless ocean. It is clear, however, that the original inhabitants must have come from a seafaring culture, adept at building long-voyaging vessels and navigating the open seas. Read more...
New findings rekindle old debates about when the first people arrived and why their civilization collapsed. Read more...
During the 19th Century, ancient artifacts containing a set of etched symbols were discovered on the world-renowned Easter Island, a small remote island located a few thousand miles west of South America, and famous for the hundreds of giant monolithic anthropomorphic statues called moai. The intricate designs appear to be glyphs, or a form of writing, but the meaning of the glyphs has never been deciphered. Some believe that decoding the mysterious writing could offer answers into what caused the collapse of the ancient Easter Island civilization. Read more...