Collapse of Easter Island Civilization

IT'S ALL ABOUT WHICH CHIEF HAS THE BIGGEST MOAI

Space aliens didn't cut down the trees on Easter Island. The inhabitants did. Hard to believe the stupidity of primitive people, yes?

Site of one of the more famous vanished mystery civilizations, Easter Island is often cited as evidence of UFO visitations. But it is actually evidence of human stupidity and a text book case of the negative effects of abject tribalism.

The objects at the heart of this story, of course, are the huge, heavy stone "moai" statues that populate the island. Early Europeans were astounded that the primitive people they found living a stone age existence on the treeless island could have transported such massive structures without timber. They wondered if the ancient Gods had been responsible. With the scientific enlightment of the 20th century, however, came far more credible theories that the moai were created by space aliens, perhaps bored space aliens. But the truth is a little more depressing.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Easter Island lies about 4,000 km west of Chile in an incredibly remote part of the Pacific Ocean. It was at one time a fertile volcanic island of about 64 square miles, a prototype sub tropical paradise if you will. Perhaps 1,600 years ago, Polynesians reached the island and settled it. Modern anthropological research tells us it was a nice place to live, with elegant palms that were eighty or ninety feet high. The population may have been as great as 7,000.

Yet, when the Dutch landed on Easter Island in 1772, they found a sad wasteland with virtually no birds and no animals larger than a chicken. The population of about 2,000 was living a basic subsistence existence. Perhaps most alarming was the fact that there were 900 huge carved statues on the island, but no trees - an unusual ratio of statue to tree.

What happened in the meantime?

Whatever wnet dreadfully wrong is intricately wrapped up with the existence of the statues, which ranged from 15 to 70 feet tall and sat on masssive stone slabs up to 500 feet long. The incredible objects were sculpted in the crater of the volcano Rano Roraku and then rolled on logs to their tribal location. These icons were all about social stratification, being tributes to the various chieftains around the island. And as the years passed they became larger and larger, just like Donald Trump skyscrapers.

We always want to give primitive people credit for respecting their surroundings, but the more you know about them, the more they seem like us. To study the progress modern chieftains have made in self aggrandizement, compare a Cadillac Coupe de Ville of the 1950's to a Cadillac SUV of today.

At some point, the competition to see which chieftain had the biggest moai, so to speak, got out of hand. More and more trees (and other bio resources) were depleted until the island was turned into the sad wasteland found by the European voyagers. Many of the final moai were never completed and remain where they were carved. There was also apparently a violent social unheaval that caused the Easter Islanders to thrown down the moai.

The Eastern Islanders cut down all trees. It wasn't just for logs to move statues, but also for houses and canoes. As the island became deforested, the wildlife declined and disappeared. You would have thought someone would have noticed. One wonders what went on in the mind of whomever cut down the last tree. Was there a nagging sense that something was wrong.

Today's apocalyptic koan: From Las Vegas, drive straight west on Route 159 for about ten miles toward Red Rock Canyon, or until you can see the Green Valley below you. Get out of your car and look down into the valley. What do you see? Now continue on to Red Rock Canyon. Park and watch the rock climbers in their extreme gear chipping away at the face of the cliff wall. What do you see? How would you characterize this infestation?

Read a brief history of Easter Island.

And then buy this remarkable book
Collapse.

Return to Deforestation map.