Mystery of Easter Island

The huge stone monolith figures on Easter Island have intrigued humans for centuries. How did they get there and what do they mean? Filmmaker Andy Awes' PBS-aired NOVA episode travels to Easter Island (originally known as Rapa Nui)—a remote location, over 1,000 miles from other lands, in the middle of the South Pacific—to take a new look at the statues. In ancient times, Polynesians arrived on the island, which was then covered with dense vegetation. The natives carved features into volcanic rock, and legend says the statues then "walked" to their current locations (some fell on the way, and can still be seen along the primitive roads). The program chronicles an effort by a team of archaeologists and volunteers to use ropes and other tools to "walk" a heavy reproduction vertically in an attempt to gain insight to how the statues might have been moved. It is speculated that the figures, called "moai," were meant to honor the ancestors of the islanders, and that their ultimate location was a place of religious ritual. A huge puzzle remains as to why this once lush island is now mostly barren. Experts consider this an example of ecocide: trees were felled for canoes (to move moai, or for other reasons), leaving the infertile soil exposed and later depleted, as sea birds—whose droppings enriched the soil—were killed for food. Warfare erupted as clans fought over dwindling resources, so that when the first European voyagers arrived in the early 18th century, the population was already in steep decline. The scientists here successfully build a case for "primitive" man using ropes and native tools to move the monuments, but many questions remain. Meanwhile, the statues continue to stand like silent sentinels—perhaps providing modern humans with an ecological warning against war and excessive exploitation of natural resources. A fine documentary on a fascinating subject, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)