Photo. Stony-faced inhabitants of Easter Island, displayed in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo. © Travel Explorations.
None of the over 300 statues on the mysterious Easter Island where standing when the first outsiders arrived in 1722. They are 13 metres and weight around 700 kilo.
The statues which stand upright today have been re-erected. It’s still mystery how people in ancient time ever made, moved and raised them in the first place? And why? Thor Heyerdahl suggested that the people who built the statues were of Peruvian descent, due to a similarity between Rapa Nui and Incan stonework.
Present-day Pacific islanders are thought to be the descendants of Neolithic agriculturalists who expanded from island South-east Asia several thousand years ago. Only recently though has DNA evidence provided proof of the first Islanders' origins. Erika Hagelberg has studied the DNA of skeletons unearthed on Easter Island. Reported by Erika Hagelberg, there is definitely a genetic connection between Polynesians and Native Americans, but it probably traces back to a common origin in Asia.
Hagelberg, who has received some Kon-Tiki Museum grant support, has reported there is no genetic data that indicates a strong South America influence in Polynesia, but that does not rule out a connection, as there are many reasons why South American genes might not be detected in Polynesia today.
Easter Island is over 2,000 miles from the nearest population centre, (Tahiti and Chile), making it one of the most isolated places on Earth. A triangle of volcanic rock in the South Pacific - it is best known for the giant stone monoliths, known as Moai, that dot the coastline. The early settlers called the island "Te Pito O Te Henua", Navel of The World.
Carbon dating of artefacts on Easter Island shows the Polynesians landed around AD700. It seems they lived an isolated existence for the next thousand years on an island measuring 22x11km, roughly the size of Jersey. The society flourished with abundant sealife and farming to feed a growing population, estimated at up to 12,000 people. The people's success manifested itself in a way that has become the Island's iconic trademark: hundred of immense stone figures - moai. BBC Two, Thursday 9 January 2003, 9pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/easterisland.shtml
Already in 1941 Thor Heyerdahl developed his theory about that Polynesia was populated by people from South America, and not from Asia. He become world famous in 1947 when he sailed on the Kon-Tiki balsa raft. With a six-man crew he managed to cross the ocean from South America to Polynesia in a 101-day voyage. The aim of this venture of expedition was to prove his theory that Polynesia was populated in ancient time by people from South America. His demonstrated with Kon-Tiki that it was possible to cross the open ocean from South America to Easter Island in a balsa raft.
Without any specific evidence, Thor Heyerdahl was until he died in 2002 convinced that the Easter Island was populated by people from South America. He was more than ever convinced that people in ancient time sailed across the world's oceans and that Polynesia was first settled by South Americans rather than from Asia as most scientists believed.
Some of Thor Heyerdahl`s most important observations for supporting his theory:
• Some of the stonework on one Easter Island ahu is similar to that of Inca structures in Peru (smooth, interlocking stone blocks).
• The kneeling moai known as Tukuturi is similar to statues at Tiahuanacu in Bolivia (where stone heads are also incorporated into masonry walls).
• The totora reed boats made by Inca, and also modern Peruvian and Bolivian people, are similar to flotation devices (known as pora) used by Easter Islanders for competing in the Birdman ceremony.
• The prevailing western winds and currents that could (and in the case of his Kon-Tiki expedition, did) transport a large raft many thousands of miles westward from South America.
• The sweet potato — native to South America — was and is a staple of the Rapa Nui diet.
A discovery in 1992 of 1,000-year-old carvings in a Peruvian temple depicting large, ocean-going vessels, was considered by Heyerdahl as an evidence for his theory.
The last word is probably not spoken in the case. The mystery still goes on. Only science makes it possible to explain the rise and fall of this unusual civilisation. Easter Island will retain some of its secrets so it not loosing its enigmatic appeal.
Stein Morten Lund, 30 June 2006
Additional information
The Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway:
http://www.museumsnett.no/kon-tiki/
Erika Hagelberg:
She is a molecular biologist interested both in molecular evolution and in human history. She has participated in two television documentaries, The Mystery of Easter Island - BBC Television, and The Curse of the Elephant Man - Natural History New Zealand, Discovery Channel.
Thor Heyerdahl`s open approach to mysteries and science:
Heyerdahl had open mind. Because of that he was also controversial, and become often criticized by other scientists. Heyerdahl wrote in his memoirs in 1997, In the Footsteps of Adam, that academic specialists often fail to see the forest for the trees.
Historical facts:
On Easter Day 1722, Dutch explorers landed on Easter Island. A civilisation isolated by 4,000 km of Pacific Ocean encountered outsiders for the first time in centuries.
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