I have been reading this book called Collapse. It is by Jared Diamond. Here is a link to a lengthy description about the book http://www.compassionatespirit.com/Collapse.htm. It is about how and why civilizations "Collapse". It probably sounds boring which is what I said to my brother when he told me to read it. But it is actually pretty interesting. It talks about why Easter Island, Norse settlements in Greenland, and the Mayan civilization collapsed.
I'm not anywhere near finishing the book but I have already read a lot about Easter Island in the book. I also found a website that tells a lot about Easter Island. The website is separated into three websites so here are all three hyperlinks: http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/easter_island/about_destin/culture1.asp, http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/easter_island/about_destin/culture2.asp, http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/easter_island/about_destin/history.asp.
There has been a lot of controversy over Easter Island. When the civilization living on Easter Island (the Rapa Nui) was first discovered, people were mystified by how they had managed to survive because there weren't any trees on the island. It is widely debated how the Rapa Nui managed to create the thousands of stone statues (Moai) that are spread throughout the island. It is also debated how the Rapa Nui came to live on the island. The website pretty much answers all of those questions.
When the Rapa Nui first inhabited the island it was covered in a "lush" forest. The Rapa Nui started cutting down the trees like crazy to build houses, boats, and the trees were most importantly used to move the Moai. They moved the Moai from where they carved them (the volcano craters) to where they planned to put them by rolling the statues over logs. This destroyed a ton of trees and eventually every tree was destroyed. Since the trees were no longer there to hold down the top soil it blew away and was replaced by sand. Scientists believe that this is a really good simulation of what will happen to the rest of the world if the rest of the world continues to destroy forests.
The picture below is of the Moai that the Rapa Nui constructed.
The picture below is of a volcanic crater found on Easter Island. The Rapa Nui did most of their rituals on the edge of the crater and they carved the Moai out of the side of it.
That is pretty much it. Visit the links if you want to learn more about Easter Island. Also download google earth and put Easter Island in the search bar.
3 comments:
That's very interesting. I always wondered what those huge statues were for. ^-^ Have you seen Night at the Museum? There's a big Moai in that. ^-^
Wow, that is amazing! I went to that website, it tells you everything about the island. It's hard to believe there used to be trees on the island. And once they were gone the people were stranded on the island.
I looked at the island on Google Earth today. It's really strange and intriguing. Why did they keep making the statues, and why did they make so many? And why did they cut down all the trees, or were they burnt down. And wonder what the guy who cut down the last tree's motive was. Maybe he was trying to build a boat.
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