Moderator:
- How would you describe what life was like living on Easter Island?
- Since constructing statues were such a large part of the civilization’s culture, a large amount of people were required to build and transport them. Large amounts of wood needed to be harvested so that would require a lot of people doing that as well. Additionally, people had to farm and harvest food for everyone to eat. These were some of the main tasks.
- How did you feel about the constant competition between your clan and the others on the island?
- There was a lot of hostility between the clans on the island because of the massive competition on who could construct the best statues. This was a major part of their culture and their lives.
- Did you notice that the land was quickly becoming desolate from deforestation and how did that impact you?
- There were no remaining trees left on the island due to deforestation. Easter Island’s environment was extremely fragile even without human impacts taken into account. Human impacts just escalated the process of degradation.
- How did it feel to live on an island so isolated from the rest of the world? Was there ever a time you wish you could just leave your home and hope to find something better out there?
- Easter is the most remote island in the world. They did not have any nearby neighbors; therefore, they couldn’t ask for help or resources when they were in desperate need of them. This also could have created even more hostility on the island because there was nowhere for anyone to go to.
- What do you think is the biggest reason your society collapsed?
- A lot about Easter Island remains a mystery. There are a lot of theories on what went on and how things crashed and how they managed to do things like moving their statues. There can be multiple reasons for their collapse: human environmental impacts, isolation, and political, social, or religious reasons.
Character 1:
My character is a commoner from the Anakena clan, living on the coast of the Anakena beach, with close access to the sea. They are a hunter due to the zone they live in, and their role is to help provide food for the society. Additionally, they are also a stone carver since there is volcanic tuff in the area they lived, making it accessible to create these larger statues and platforms.
Brief Essay:
If you look out into the sea, you would see clear blue skies and body of water filled with life. This is what life was like in the beginning. As I fished for food, I would use nets to constantly bring in whatever fish we could, but this was not enough. Since we lived on a rugged coast, it was difficult to catch fish, but we didn’t let that defeat us. We adapted to what was available to us, and that is when the seabirds of the coast became our primary food. Our clan was prosperous for some time, there were plenty of resources and food, and our statues stood tall and proud, always looking over our clans and territories, but then our downfall began.
Being that we, the people of Easter Island were isolated, eventually, competition arose. This along with the extinction of many seabirds, greatly impacted us. Not only did we have to fight with other for resources, but the resources themselves were disappearing. Forests grew smaller and smaller, constantly losing the life it once had, and then the animals we relied on went too. Greediness led to our downfall, we lost land and native species, thus forcing us into difficult positions.
Character 2:
I am a commoner from the Hotu Iti clan, or Tongariki as some call us. In the past we used to
spend our days sculpting, building, and transporting our ahu or moai. Today, we’ve abandoned building these. There aren’t enough trees. Previous generations used all the good trees; all we’re left with is a sparse amount of small trees no larger than 10 ft high. My role is to farm what I can; tend to my own hare moa, chicken house; to check the soil and plants growing in our lithic mulches; general maintenance of our sunken gardens and rock gardens. The land is exposed to the sun and wind, so harvests are sparse. Some clans have started eating each other to survive, that’s how bad things are.
We’re located on southern part of the eastern side of the island near Rano Raraku crater. This means we have the island’s best stone for carving that everyone wants to use for their moai. Other clans need permission to transport materials through our land; because we need materials from elsewhere on the island for our tools and transport materials, we also have to get permission from the other clans to transport through their land. Overall, we get along with the other clans. Occasionally, our chiefs tell us to destroy the moai of other clans. We didn’t always do this to our neighbors; competition used to be based on who could out build the other. Hotu Iti has the largest ahu carrying our moai, something we used to be proud of here. Now in frustration with our chiefs and gods we knock them down.
We are running out of food and our land is barren. According to legend our ancestors came from islands lush with food and materials for construction. This island itself used to be full of trees and birds. Why must we anguish here? Our chiefs wanted us to continue building moai, but they can no longer feed us. So, they’ve been abandoned. Our chiefs say because we’ve abandoned construction the gods are angry and are punishing us. But the gods abandoned us before we abandoned them. Many other commoners are renouncing the gods and destroying moai in protest of our conditions. In my opinion, it’s useless to waste that energy.
We’ve become a weak and fragile society. Even our neighboring clans are suffering. The
foreigners brought disease that killed many of our people. Some of our people disappeared on a ship, hopefully to a better life. I doubt it though, the people who took them didn’t seem trustworthy. They headed East and that’s the last we’ve heard of them. Families were separated, I lost a friend. Maybe things are better where they are, maybe they are not starving like we are. Our people used to be strong and healthy, we used to feast after finishing moai. Now we are weak, miserable and feast on the flesh of our own. Our land is destroyed, and we are destroying our people. There is nowhere to go. No canoes to
sail off to elsewhere. We’ve tried, but we never get far with what materials we have left. Stories and legends talk of other islands 17 days away, we can’t get farther than a mile out to sea before our sad excuse for canoes leak and sink. In this way we waste more energy swimming back to land.
We are a dying people. While we may blame the gods or chiefs, it doesn’t matter who is at fault in the end. Our land is striped dry, nothing left for firewood, canoes, or gardening. Whatever trees are left the rats have gotten to. We are alone and desperate. Why have we been abandoned?
Character 3:
I am an adult female easter islander living in one of the wooden canoe houses. I am a commoner who tends the gardens and the chickens in the hare moa. I make sure the harvests grow and the chickens are tended. I am very important as food is becoming very scarce.
Short Essay:
My people are the last people on our island, and the world. We are struggling to survive as food and resources are scarce. The fish are gone, so are the birds. At least I’ve got my chickens, safe in their hare moa. Apparently, we once had huge trees, some myth that was. Our soil is no good, harvests are failing. Ash and dust don’t fall. Neither does the rain. Maybe our use of the resources has caused this? No, we wouldn’t do that.
Yesterday, Chief knocked over our enemy’s moai. I was so excited because I got to yell at the other clan that “Their mother’s flesh stuck between my teeth”. They weren’t too happy about that. Being one of the last people in the world is a privilege. I help my people build moai to honor our chief. I then help move them to ahu to show ours is bigger than our enemy clan’s moai. It is hard work, but it is worth seeing the other clan’s look on their delicious faces. If you ask me how my life was, I’d say it was hard. I’m always hungry and we are thin. We work tirelessly to keep our harvests going, even though they are depleting. If I’m not in my garden or tending to my hare moa I am helping build the next moai for our next chief.
Character Description 4:
My character is a farmer in the Vinapu clan. She lives near the beach where the seabirds build their nests. Her home is also not far from the obsidian quarry that the Vinapu clan owns and operates. My character grows both crops and livestock. Her products are used to feed the clan and also the livestock that live on the farms. My character’s role in society is a vital one. Growing clans, such as the Vinapu, require a constant source of food. Without my character, the clan would have to focus all their attention on growing their own food which would take away from their tasks of mining and building in the quarries.
Brief Essay:
In hindsight, it was our own greed that was our downfall. We wanted to become powerful and to have the largest Moai on the island. Our clan had both the best quarries for obsidian and basalt. And because of our position on the southernmost end of the island, we also had the best land for agriculture. We were given everything we could ever need from the earth. But we did not realize the gift that we were given. We ripped open the ground in search of the best basalt for our ahu and the best obsidian for our tools. We chopped down trees to clear the land for agriculture and also to aid in the movement of our Moai. We pushed the native species to the far corners and the very edges of our island. The sea birds that were native to our home were pushed out of their natural nesting grounds and were forced onto the beach next to my house. As the years passed, there were less and less birds. These past few years I have not seen any and I fear that they have been completely wiped out. But I am even more terrified that we will suffer the same fate as the seabirds. Our population, shrinking and shrinking until there is barely any of us left. I try to have a positive outlook, but it is hard to see how our story could be anything other than tragic. Our home is now uninhabitable to us. There are no trees, the land is dry and cannot support crops or livestock, and most native species have been reduced to nearly nothing. My land has been drying up the last few years. The nutrients have been completely stripped from the ground because of the increased demand for food from my clan. As our community crew we decided to put up more Moai and because of that the community needs more food resources. The strain of the increased demand for food has completely decimated my farmland. This land can no longer support crops and I fear that in the coming growing season my land will not produce anything at all. We have reached beyond and taken more than what the earth could give us. And I fear that we will not survive long enough to suffer all the consequences.
Character Description 5:
My character is an elite member of society from the Hanga Pokura clan. They live in the coastal zone in a large hare (house) and manage one of the major obsidian quarries. My character manages their land and the commoners like a plantation in order to ensure that there is a surplus of food for the chiefs and the labor force. It is important to my character to be efficient in management in order to be competitive with other clans within the island.
Brief Essay:
In the beginning, resources were plentiful. Trees were used to make boats, build housing structures for humans and livestock alike, statues were moved across the island using entire trunks, fruits were harvested to feed our clan, even wild animals used trees for their own needs. There had never been a lot of fish and crops were difficult to grow but the sea birds were abundant. We adjusted our diets and were careful with our crops. Anything that sprouted was carefully protected with rocks to break the wind and carefully maintained by plantation workers.
The competition amongst clans drove resource consumption. In order to have the largest statues more trunks were cut down for the sake of moving efficiency and more sea birds were hunted in the name of fueling the commoners. Resources were harvested without a plan to replenish them. When the consequences of over consumption began to be felt it was already too late. The island began to look barren. Trees would take several years to reach maturity. Starvation and sickness forced clans into a vulnerable position.