Ecocide or Utopia on Easter Island?

摘要

The presence of iconic, gigantic stone statues on tiny, remote Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is frequently labeled a mystery because in the 18th century this stony, barren island hosted a warring population considered too small and impoverished to have produced such monuments. The standard account of Rapa Nui has been well popularized (1-3). Humans arrive; populations grow; intergroup competition leads to ever-larger statues whose transport demands more trees be cut down, leading to environmental destruction, warfare, and social disruption. That narrative might support certain views of how modern civilization could end up, but, according to the recent research summarized in The Statues That Walked, it is wrong on almost all counts. Forget previous claims for aliens or willful ecocide. Instead, archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo argue, ancient Easter Island was a well-adapted, quasi-utopian world.