Do you feel that the current situation of the global race and the use of resources is going to end up with humans destroying themselves? A story of Easter Island may bring to light human nature, competing with each other for power and status. It may also enlighten us about our path to self destruction.
What is Easter Island?
Easter Island, is an island in the south Pacific Ocean belonging to Chile. The island is famous for its numerous moai, the stone statues located along the coastlines. Easter Island was given its common name of “Easter” because the first recorded European visit, by the Dutch was on Easter Sunday, 1722. It is Located 3,600 km (2,237 statute miles) west of continental Chile and 2,075 km (1,290 statute miles) east of Pitcairn Island. Easter Island is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world.
You may have heard of Easter Island or at least find the moai familiar. The island is famous for the numerous moai located along the coastlines.
What are Moai?
Moai are monolithic stone figures on Easter Island (“Rapa Nui” in Tahitian and today also in Rapa Nui language), Chile. Between c.1000-1700 AD they were cut from the islands quarries in Rano Raraku and set on ahu (platforms) facing the ocean along the perimeter of the island.
The transportation process from the quarries to their final positions required significant intellect, use of resources, creativity and is considered a remarkable feat of human endeavour.
How did the Rapa Nui Construct & Transport the Moai
This mystery has no proved solution till date although there are many theories as to how the Rapa Nui created and transported them, the most logical one is explained below.
In short, a bunch of people came to easter island, saw that it had plenty of resources, trees, stone, sweet potato etc. Just how our mother earth provides a bounty full of resources for us at the moment, oil, water, trees etc.
As the days went by the people began to compete with each other to build bigger Moai. In the process they would use more rocks, trees to transport, sweet potato as food as well as a lubricant in moving the moai.
Everything was going well except man’s desire to be more powerful than the others. The largest moai erected, “Paro”, was almost 10 meters (33 ft) high and weighed 83 tons while one unfinished sculpture would have been approximately 21 meters (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 tons.
This continued till one day they realized they have nearly depleted their resources and are on the verge of starvation. What do they do next? The begin killing each other for survival, a few of them escape into caves nearby and hide. They painted and carved out their entire history in caves besides the sea.
The surprising part is we have not yet managed to decipher the Rapa nui writings, Rongorongo. The Christian missionaries that came to the island destroyed most of the tablets that had their scriptures written. There are only 26 Rongorongo tablets left around the world in museums, its surprising we call ourself advanced, but cant learn from a civilization that managed to wipe itself out by doing just what we are doing now on a global level.
Read the Entire Easter Island Story
The Arrival of the Rapa Nui
Constructing the Moai
Erecting the Moai
Conflict: The Fall of the Moai
A New Cult
Lessons from the Past?
Will we rape Mother Earth till she has nothing left to offer us? Why are we part of this race, this competition makes, no sense to me. There is enough for everybody, I do hope we realize this one day.
Resources:
Easter Island Copes with World Heritage Designation
Did humans devastate Easter Island on arrival?
Easter Island Archaeology Quiz
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