Rapa Nui Journal Volume 16 Issue 2

L'expedition

A novel by Pierrette Fleutiaux

Editions Gallimard, 1999.ln French. ISBN 2-07-075567-3

Review by Louise Noel

The Prehistory of Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, Republic of Kiribati. Excavations and Analyses

Atholl Anderson, Helene Martinsson-Wallin and Paul Wallin The Kon-Tiki Museum Occasional Paper Volume 6, 2002

Review by Georgia Lee

Tourism, Biodiversity and Information

F. di Castri and W. Balaji, eds. Backhuys Publisher, Leiden 2002.

Hard cover, 488 pages plu index. ISBN 90-5782-107-9. Price US$65. Email: backhuys@backhuys.com

Review by Georgia Lee

Pacific 2000: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific.

Edited by Christopher M. Stevenson, Georgia Lee, and F. J. Morin. 2001,

Easter Island Foundation. Los 0 0 ,CA. ($35) Paper; 8.5xll; 576 pages; photographs, maps, and drawings. ISBN 1-880636-18-2.

Review by Dave Tuggle

Splendid Isolation. Art of Easter Island

Eric Kjellgren

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Yale University Press, New Haven & London. 2001. $19.95. ISBN 0-300-09078-1

Review by Paul G. Bahn

The South Pacific

Ron Crocombe, 2001.

University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.

Hard cover, b/w photographs, 713 pages plus bibliography and index,

ISBN 982-02-0154-3.

Review by Frank Morin

Moai Sightings

What's New in the Pacific

What's New in Hanga Roa

The Carnegie - the world's only sea-going non-magnetic observatory - was constructed by the Carnegie Institution of Washington to obtain geophysical data over the oceans. This vessel was part of the equipment of the Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, founded April 1, 1904, realizing a plan for an international magnetic bureau submitted by Dr. Louis A. Bauer, the Department's director from 1904 and its director emeritus from 1930. The purpose of the Department, set forth in the plan, is 'to investigate such problems of worldwide interest as relate to the magnetic and electric condition of the Earth and its atmosphere, not specifically the subject of inquiry of anyone country, but of international concern and benefit. "Among the problems proposed was the magnetic survey of ocean-areas and magnetically unexplored regions, so that more accurate and comprehensive charts might be constructed. It was in the realization of this part of the plan that the Carnegie did such useful service during 1909 and 1929. The first six cruises were made almost exclusively for the surveys of the Earth's magnetism and electricity for which she was designed.

While the broad outlines of Polynesian prehistory are fairly well known, continuing surprises show that there is much be learned. Weisler (1998), for instance, found volcanic materials on Henderson Island which significantly pre-date the earliest known settlements on their source islands of Pitcairn and Mangareva. I want to lay the groundwork for what might be another surprise.

Since the first Polynesian settlers set foot on Rapa Nui, probably between AD 300 and AD 600, cultivation of plants and the development and adaptation of agriculture in the new environment became the key factor for a growing community and a flourishing culture. The biotic resources the people found on Rapa Nui were relatively poor due to the lack of diversity of edible and usable plants and animals, a consequence of its isolation in the Pacific Ocean. The people depended on the supplies they carried with them in their canoes as they did for hundreds of years while exploring the solitary Polynesian islands. And they depended of course on the abiotic resources as these set the limits for cultivation of plants and fruits. Key factors in this point of view were the availability of water and the fertility of the soils for growing plants, suitable climatic factor for the species cultivated, geomorphologic conditions that would allow farming and the availability of area for land use in relation to the population size.

Katherine Routledge's remark about Rapa Nui in 1914, that "the inhabitants of today are less real than the men who have gone," prefaced an age of archaeology and studies of culture that has often adopted her attitude. It is often assumed that little of the ancient culture is alive on the island now, that the traditions were lost. In interviews with contemporary Rapa Nui artists and cultural leaders, they voice many points of view about this, reflecting the richness of the island' cultural revival.

This paper discusses changes in Rapa Nui subsistence patterns over time and the social implications of those changes. As revealed by the archaeological record, the symbols of status and power shifted over time.

In the early settlement phase, dated to around AD 800-1100, power and status appears to have been tied to activities directed towards the sea. The majority of the bones found in early cultural deposits on the island were derived from fish whose habitats range from 500-1000 meters offshore (Martinsson-Wallin and Crockford 2001). There were also many bones from sea mammals such as spinner dolphin (delfinidae).

In this paper we will present some of our resent research on ceremonial sites, marae, in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. These islands are located in the central East Polynesia Ocean, and are divided into the Windward and the Leeward Islands. Our paper considers the structural organization of habitation and ceremonial sites in the Society Islands (cf. Kirch 1996; Ladefoged 1998), as well as relations between marae and the surrounding landscape.

Sr. "Kon-Tiki" passed away quietly in his home in Italy on the 18th of April 2002, at the age of 87. As one of the most famous Norwegians ever, he accomplished many different things in his life, but his name will always be intimately tied to the Kon-Tiki voyage and the archaeological investigations on Rapa Nui and East Polynesia. He was awarded a state funeral in Oslo on the 26th of April 2002, but his final resting place is on the family estate at Colla Micheri in Italy.