Humans
A decades-long stretch of extremely low precipitation in the 1500s may have spurred cultural changes among the Rapa Nui people that reduced time spent building statues, but not all archaeologists agree
Moai on Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island
All Canada Photos / Alamy Stock Photo
A newly identified drought on the Pacific island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, could have spurred islanders to invest fewer resources in building their legendary stone monuments. But some archaeologists dispute this interpretation.
The island of Rapa Nui has become central to a cautionary tale of disaster caused by unsustainable use of resources. The standard narrative is that the arrival of the first Polynesians on the tiny island in the 1200s led to rapid deforestation, in part to support the…
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