Here's the original article - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado1459 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado1459 and the thesis: > Rapa Nui

Here's the original article - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado1459 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado1459 and the thesis: > Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is often used as an example of how overexploitation of limited resources resulted in a catastrophic population collapse. A vital component of this narrative is that the rapid rise and fall of pre-contact Rapanui population growth rates was driven by the construction and overexploitation of once extensive rock gardens. However, the extent of island-wide rock gardening, while key for understanding food systems and demography, must be better understood ... We show that the extent of this agricultural infrastructure is substantially less than previously claimed and likely could not have supported the large population sizes that have been assumed. Tl;dr - Any argument about population collapse doesn't make sense as the maximum population is overestimated.