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Easter Island figures pointed to water


Eldorado

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The lost civilization of Easter Island may have chosen the location of the iconic moai heads to signal where fresh water was available, a study has suggested.

Carl Lipo, an anthropologist who has spent almost 20 years studying the Rapa Nui people and their disappearance from Easter Island, was looking at how the population was able to survive with such limited access to drinking water. Across the island, there is very little access to freshwater—springs and streams are almost completely absent and there is very little rainfall (approximately 48.8 inches per year). So how did a civilization of an estimated 15,000-20,000 at its peak manage to survive?

Full article: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/easter-island-heads-mystery-solved/ar-BBOdhaC?OCID=ansmsnnews11

At Science-Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181009114946.htm

Edited by Eldorado
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Hmm.. I find that interpretation rather.... surprising ? 

With so few springs etc on the island, why would it take almost 900 Moai heads to mark their presence ? (On an island barely 180 square kilometers ? )

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31 minutes ago, Eldorado said:

The lost civilization of Easter Island may have chosen the location of the iconic moai heads to signal where fresh water was available, a study has suggested.

Carl Lipo, an anthropologist who has spent almost 20 years studying the Rapa Nui people and their disappearance from Easter Island, was looking at how the population was able to survive with such limited access to drinking water. Across the island, there is very little access to freshwater—springs and streams are almost completely absent and there is very little rainfall (approximately 48.8 inches per year). So how did a civilization of an estimated 15,000-20,000 at its peak manage to survive?

Full article: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/easter-island-heads-mystery-solved/ar-BBOdhaC?OCID=ansmsnnews11

At Science-Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181009114946.htm

I thought it was interesting, but not groundbreaking.   They mentioned that they were at the coast instead of in the middle of the island because that is where the fresh water was.   I think it was more to do with looking out over the ocean.  

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1 hour ago, Myles said:

I thought it was interesting, but not groundbreaking.   They mentioned that they were at the coast instead of in the middle of the island because that is where the fresh water was.   I think it was more to do with looking out over the ocean.  

Actually, I read a little deeper into the report, and it's not as mad as it might seem ? 

Their theory is that the porous rock of the island tends to divert such rain as it gets into undground aquifers, which then emerge at the cost, going almost directly into the sea. 

However, they desalinate the seawater at the point of contact, making the water stream drinkable... barely..... hence the "heads" being around the shore to indicate the presence of an outflow. Possibly. 

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Umm.. the disappearance of the Rapa Nui isnt a mystery. They used up all their resources. Literally stripped the land and in doing so, doomed themselves. 

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No, they did not strip the island of natural resources. That's a theory that has long been debunked. Frankly it's an insulting assumption that the indigenous people were too stupid to manage their own island.

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8 minutes ago, Bunzilla said:

No, they did not strip the island of natural resources. That's a theory that has long been debunked. Frankly it's an insulting assumption that the indigenous people were too stupid to manage their own island.

Actually they did strip the island of most of its resources.    Not the only reason for their demise though.   Disease from visitors and slavery added to it.  

 

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That's what I meant, yeah. But they're not all wiped out either. There are still native peoples living on the island, it's just that no one knows how to read or speak Rongorongo anymore. Which is a terrible shame.

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Can we agree that due to the small size of the island there was probably only one culture inhabiting it at any one time (probably the same one for thousands of years)? Water is needed on a daily basis, and everybody knew where it was. What kind of a moronic idea suggests that they needed to build statues to "pinpoint" the location of the water everybody already knew where to find and how to get?

And what's this theory about the natives using up all the resources? There are literally over a thousand islands in the Polynesian archipelago(s), where tribes have been living for thousands of years, obviously knowing what they're doing and how to live sustainably (isn't that what all tribes all across the globe are still doing to this day unlike everyone else around them???). And why the heck would only ONE island come to the fate the Easter Island is so famously "known" for?

Edited by Rolci
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The moai look to be located at landing points around the island. Their large size would make them visible from out at sea, are they aiming points for fishermen returning to the island ?  

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Obviously there is a lot to be researched on all this. Thanks for posting it, and thanks for so many perspectives. That's why I enjoy this site so much!

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4 hours ago, Rolci said:

 Water is needed on a daily basis, and everybody knew where it was. What kind of a moronic idea suggests that they needed to build statues to "pinpoint" the location of the water everybody already knew where to find and how to get it?

I tend to agree. If they had one head at the source yeah ok, but I dont see the advantage in producing so many figures soley to pin point a water source. Unless of course they worshipped water... or were extremely bored. Perhaps the guys undertaking construction had a boss like mine and kept making them do it over until 'they got it right'.

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1 hour ago, seanjo said:

I saw a docu saying the transport and erection of their heads (woop woop) used up all the trees on the island helping to lead to their demise.

 

I like this theory though, having all those giant people/Gods defending/pointing the way to your only sources of fresh water.

With no trees there was nothing to stop the erosion of the soil. Couldn't keep any crops. 

 

Their demise is always painted as mysterious, there was anything but. It's quite well known why they are gone. I think it's just some ancient aliens crap that people adhere to.

Edited by Imaginarynumber1
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11 hours ago, Bunzilla said:

No, they did not strip the island of natural resources. That's a theory that has long been debunked. Frankly it's an insulting assumption that the indigenous people were too stupid to manage their own island.

They absolutely did. They chopped down every single tree they could find to move their giant stupid Stone heads. The civilization of the Rapa Nui was already in Collapse by the time westerners had contact with them.

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Actually, it is written that some statues near the Rano volcano look down the slope and others, on the ahu, look inland at the village that once stood there. I do not think that our modern statues look at the sources of water and they are also turned to the living.

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12 hours ago, Bunzilla said:

No, they did not strip the island of natural resources. That's a theory that has long been debunked. Frankly it's an insulting assumption that the indigenous people were too stupid to manage their own island.

And who do you do it, someone else? I do not believe that the trees were destroyed to move the statues.

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21 hours ago, RoofGardener said:

Ooooh... I just stumbled across something. 

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/easter-island-head-bodies-293799

Apparently the heads have bodies !!!!

I saw this a while ago, I would have thought the first thing people did that discovered these would be to dig down to see how far they were buried?

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