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I was just in Easter Island/Rapa Nui in December. One of the most incredible places I've ever been to. I have pretty much the exact photo as the one at the top

by weeksie 11y ago

I was just in Easter Island/Rapa Nui in December. One of the most incredible places I've ever been to. I have pretty much the exact photo as the one at the top of the article (it's from the quarry where they carved the Moai). I'm pretty suspect of any claims that Easter Islanders didn't engage in bloody all-out war with one another. From my understanding all of the Moai on the island had been toppled by inter clan warfare (any standing Moai on platforms have been restored to their original positions, and most of them have had their heads cemented back on since they generally snapped at the neck when they toppled). So yeah, the glass blades might have been tools, but I wouldn't draw a lot of conclusions about the amount of conflict on the island based on that.

amock 11y ago
According to a video in the Ars Technica article linked in another post the Moai may have been toppled by an earthquake rather than inter clan warfare, so there may not have been war.
- weeksie 11y ago
  Perhaps. It would have been a hell of an earthquake to topple every single one, I reckon. (There are about 288 that were on platforms)
sandworm101 11y ago
There is some evidence that they were not toppled violently. Specifically, some of them are face-down but with noses intact. That suggests they may have been lowered carefully, or at least tipped onto something soft, rather than knocked over by man or quake. But I still think there was plenty of violence to go around. Start reducing the food supply and human beings get very violent very quickly. No population has ever sat and quietly starved to death. We turn on each other in a battle for resources.
- weeksie 11y ago
  My understanding is that there is at least some oral record of clan violence and/or toppling of the Moai, but perhaps I'm way off on that. The museum on the island certainly presented it that way. But I'm no anthropologist. As far as being broken at the nose, that doesn't make a ton of sense to me, given that most of the Moai have broken necks, which wouldn't have occurred if they were lowered slowly. And the break pattern on all of them is similar to the ones that were broken in transit. The platforms that they would have fallen on to are made of stones and grass so there's no reason to assume that the noses would break. But again, I'm only reporting on what I saw and what people told me when I was there. I'm sure there are all sorts of plausible explanations.

by weeksie 11y ago

amock 11y ago

According to a video in the Ars Technica article linked in another post the Moai may have been toppled by an earthquake rather than inter clan warfare, so there may not have been war.

weeksie 11y ago
Perhaps. It would have been a hell of an earthquake to topple every single one, I reckon. (There are about 288 that were on platforms)

sandworm101 11y ago

There is some evidence that they were not toppled violently. Specifically, some of them are face-down but with noses intact. That suggests they may have been lowered carefully, or at least tipped onto something soft, rather than knocked over by man or quake. But I still think there was plenty of violence to go around. Start reducing the food supply and human beings get very violent very quickly. No population has ever sat and quietly starved to death. We turn on each other in a battle for resources.

weeksie 11y ago
My understanding is that there is at least some oral record of clan violence and/or toppling of the Moai, but perhaps I'm way off on that. The museum on the island certainly presented it that way. But I'm no anthropologist. As far as being broken at the nose, that doesn't make a ton of sense to me, given that most of the Moai have broken necks, which wouldn't have occurred if they were lowered slowly. And the break pattern on all of them is similar to the ones that were broken in transit. The platforms that they would have fallen on to are made of stones and grass so there's no reason to assume that the noses would break. But again, I'm only reporting on what I saw and what people told me when I was there. I'm sure there are all sorts of plausible explanations.