On the other hand, there's no good time to miss fieldwork on a
pleasant sunny day, just to spend time in a cramped hotel room.
Staying back from the field creates an chance to stand back and think.
We continue to ponder the concept of "collapse". Jared Diamonds book
knits the concept of collapse neatly together for many societies.
People here are concerned the book passes judgement on Rapa Nui, with
its question, "What was the person who cut down the last tree
thinking?". My colleague, John Flenley feels he originated this
question many years ago in a slightly different form. Regardless, the
question is clearly posed in Diamond's book about "Collapse", and I've
felt this question is meant in a rhetorical manner, as a tool to make
students think. A good student, in responding to that question might
ask many other questions posed in different ways. Our project is based
on the premise that deforestation can become an inevitable course long
before the last tree falls (or dies).
However, any science project has to be set up to falsify a hypothesis,
and as such we have to generate data which test key premises. I am
learning that perhaps most of all, we have to ask, "was there really a
collapse?" Or at least, was there a collapse of anything but the
statue building culture?
In today's photo (taken last week), John Flenley examines one of the
most remarkable pieces of stonework on the island, the facing of the
ahu (alter) at Vinapu. Each massive piece of stone fits the adjacent
pieces perfectly. Since we've been here, I've learned that ahu and
moai are only one line of remarkable stonework on the island. Others
are harder to see, and perhaps less photogenic, but perhaps more
remarkable in a landscape context. Yet, when one focuses on moai and
ahu, one sees collapse. Looking more broadly, it seems there is more
than meets the eye at first.
