In his talk, John reflected on his 30+ years of research on Rapa Nui.
One of his themes was the relevance of the scientific investigations
of past environments and past human activity on the island to modern
civilization. As John puts it, given the potential catastrophes facing
the Earth's now globalized civilization, wouldn't it be nice if we
could do an experiment to isolate a population of perhaps a few
thousand people for a millennium so that we could better understand
what can undermine efforts to achieve a sustainable society?
Of course, the civilization that developed on Rapa Nui is as close as
we can get to this notional experiment. Before you think further about
the experiment, look at today's picture and imagine yourself as part
of the isolated society isolated on this small but diverse landscape.
John's point is that we have a lot to learn from this experiment.
There is much more to be learned from detailed investigations --
including both our study and the one Stevenson and Ladefoged are
carrying out to understand the functioning of the gardens that fed
people for perhaps a millennium here. There is also much to be learned
from integrating the knowledge that has been gathered so far. As we do
this, and incorporate more and more detailed information, the story
does change. For example, we all agreed that despite most published
information pointing to a "collapse" at the the end of the moai-
building era, there is a lack of sound evidence that population
crashed exactly and dramatically at this time. Perhaps our project
will shed some light on this.
In closing, John emphasized that many of the most remarkable things we
learn from deciphering the Rapa Nui experiment center around the ways
the island's leaders cultivated the moai-building and Birdman rituals
to maintain peace between the many tribes/clans on the island. He also
notes that the focus of the rituals seemed to shift appropriately from
the extremely resource-intensive moai building to a reemergence of the
creator god Make Make, as resource issues related to deforestation
(and presumably maintaining food production) became a dominant source
of concern for the society.
Since he has retired from his role as Professor and head of Geography
at Massey University, John has been putting most of his time into
efforts within his Anglican church and several trusts to conserve and
restore the natural world, both around New Zealand and around the
world. He's also just completed work on the third edition of a book on
Easter Island, which he writes with archaeologist Paul Bahn.
