Jared Diamond wrong about Easter Island?
I haven't read Collapse (and haven't finised Guns, Germs and Steel which I left in my aunt's house about 3 years ago) but Iain Murray at the Corner links to an article debunking Diamond's theories on Easter Island.
Apparently settlers didn't actually arrive until 1200 AD, 800 years later than those who know these things thought. These new findings challenge the widely held notion that Easter Island's civilization experienced a sudden collapse after centuries of slow growth. If correct, the finding would mean that the island's irreversible deforestation and construction of its famous Moai statues began almost immediately after Polynesian settlers first set foot on the island.
The research published in Science is here.
Apparently settlers didn't actually arrive until 1200 AD, 800 years later than those who know these things thought. These new findings challenge the widely held notion that Easter Island's civilization experienced a sudden collapse after centuries of slow growth. If correct, the finding would mean that the island's irreversible deforestation and construction of its famous Moai statues began almost immediately after Polynesian settlers first set foot on the island.
The research published in Science is here.
posted by Auds | 17:53
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