Rapa Nui Journal Volume 18 Issue 2

The Prez Sez

Office News

Moai Sightings

What's New Elsewhere

What's New in the Pacific

What's New in Hanga Roa

For the spring issue of RNJ, Vol. 18 (1), I wrote an article with the title "The Riddle of the Pre-contact World Maps", giving a review of the book 1421, The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies. This book is relevant to Rapa Nui because on page 402 it shows a map on which Easter Island figures as one of the "Chinese bases across the Pacific Ocean".

TWELVE YEARS AGO the Easter Island Foundation undertook its first voyage into book publishing; a voyage that would bring to Rapanuiphiles and scientists an unprecedented look at Easter Island and the realms of Oceania; a voyage that one could conceivably trace to the first visitors on Easter Island who described what they saw. For, in the words of Eyraud, Roussel, Loti, and Pinart, the world first became aware of this remarkable little island. And because of the dedicated efforts of Georgia Lee, Frank Morin, and Ann Altman, we can all share those words, that awareness, and those first voyages.

THANKS TO THE TENACITY of the editors of Easter Island Foundation, Edmuno Edwards' long awaited Ra'ivavae. Archaeological Survey of Ra'ivavae, French Polynesia, was published in late 2003. This work is perhaps the first comprehensive archaeological survey of its kind in Polynesia.

THE TITLE OF FAGAN'S BOOK, "The Long Summer. .. " refers to global warming that began some 18,000 years ago with the end of the last Ice Age, and which has since continued. According to the author, Earth's climate has shaped civilizations. Fagan states: "Climate is, and always has been, a powerful catalyst in human history ...."

This issue of Rapa Nui Journal inaugurates a new feature, a mini-history of those doing current and important research on Easter Island. We begin this series with a thumbnail history of Charlie Love, a familiar name to Rapanuiphiles the world over.

We received a small clipping taken from the San Francisco Examiner for 30 January, 1914, and excavated by Calvin Malone. The item is titled "Wed Dusky Belles? Never, Say Sailors". The text begins with a subhead, "Wrecked Mariners Here, Declare They Fled From Matrimony".

The first Polynesian islands encountered by Europeans were the Marquesas Islands, Te Henua 'Enana. This occurred in 1595 when Alvaro de Mendafia, sailing under the patronage of the Viceroy of Peru, sighted Fatuiva, the southernmost island of the archipelago. Since this initial meeting, visitors have tried to capture in both words and graphic images, the fierce beauty of both Te Henua, the land, and Te 'Enana, the people.