Rapa Nui Journal Volume 15 Issue 2

EMBLEMS OF PASSAGE: ART OF AFRICA, OCEANIA AND THE AMERICAS

Museum of Craft & Folk Art (MOCFA), San Francisco

January 16 - April 7, 2002

Opening reception January 16, 5 - 7

Splendid Isolation: Art of Easter Island

December 11, 2001 - August 2, 2002

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Art of the Pacific Islands CD A Technical review by Katherine Burton Jones

Art of the Pacific Islands CD

Produced by Pacific Resources for Education and Learning

(PREL); Art Selection and Content: Caroline Yacoe;

Line and Content Editor: Wendy Arbeit

A Content Review by Norman Hurst

Rapa Nui Easter Island/Osterinsel Church Music from the Most Mysterious Place on Earth

Taped by Jorg Hertel, Tug Records

Schiffstr.10, 91054 Erlangen, Germany

kontakt@joerghertel.de www.joerghertel.de

Neun@Sci.com ($/5, plus $10 shipping/handling overseas).

CD-ROM RESOURCES Review

by GRANT MCCALL

Centre for South Pacific Studies University of New South Wales

I have been meaning to write this summary review for some time and it takes a period of research on Rapanui to give me the space to put together my thoughts on some CD-ROM resources that have been produced in the last few years. These offer both specialist and generalist information on the Pacific Islands and, especially, Rapanui.

Te Moana Nui. Exploring Lost Isles of the South Pacific

Georgia Lee

Easter Island Foundation, 2001. rapanuibookS@woridnet.alt.nel $25

ISBN 1-880636-19-0

Review by Paul G. Bahn

Possessive Markers in Central Pacific Languages

Edited by Steven Roger Fischer

Sprachtypologie und Universalienforchung, Universitat Bremen, Postfach 22 04 40, D28334 Bremen, Germany

Review by Joseph C. Finney

On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact

Patrick Vinton Kirch

The University of California Press, 2000 $45 hardcover.

ISBN 0-520-22347-0.

Reviewed by Peter R. Mills, University of Hawai'i, Hilo.

Fiji's Natural Heritage

Paddy Ryan

Exilse Publishing, New Zealand, 2000

ISBN 0-908988-14-1 Hardcover, oversize

Review by Paul Geraghty, University of the South Pacific, Suva

Moai Sightings

What's New in the Pacific

What's New in Hangaroa

At the request of the Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales from Chile and the Rapa Nui National Park (RNNP) on Easter Island, World Monuments Fund in collaboration with a grant from American Express, sponsored a mission to develop a monitoring system at the Ceremonial Center of Mata Ngarau in the archaeological site of 'Orongo, on Easter Island. The mission was carried out in collaboration with the National Park Service, through an agreement this institution has with the Chilean counterpart, CONAF. Blaine Cliver and Raul Vazquez, NPS, and Michael Schuller, Atkinson-Noland Associates, were in charge of the installation and surveying of reference points for the necessary monitoring measurements. The Mata Ngarau Ceremonial Center is located on the edge of the Rano Kau volcano, 300 m above sea level. The site was devoted to the birdman cult and was only used in spring (during the month of September) while sea birds returned to nest on the three islets opposite this southwest tip of Easter Island.

The following is a chapter plus some text from the Introduction of a book published in 1926, describing a scientific expedition that cruised the Pacific in 1924. The group visited the Marquesas, Tahiti, and Rapa Iti before stopping, briefly, at Easter Island. What science was conducted is unclear. They did make a film record of the journey and the whereabouts ofthe footage they shot would be of interest, if it still exists. Of particular concern is the presence on Easter Island of a Ford automobile, described as "very, very old and decrepit ". This apparition, belonging to Mr. Edmunds, is a real mystery of Easter Island. How did it get to the island? And when?

In the fall of 1999, I became a graduate student at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, under the supervision of Dr Douglas Porteous and began work on a Master's Degree in Geography, focusing on contemporary development issues on Easter Island. To date, little research has been conducted in this particular area. The majority of the literature has focused on the prehistory, archaeology, anthropology, and ethnology of the island. Thus, the purpose of the research is to produce a historico-geographical account of the social, economic, and political development of Easter Island since commercial air travel to the island began in 1967 and to examine future development visions for the island. This study first addresses how Easter Island has been managed since 1967 to 2001. Secondly, and more specifically, it analyzes future development visions concerning the island, held by international, national, and local stakeholders. More importantly, this study will fill a gap in our knowledge of the island's contemporary development issues.

My arrival to Easter Island was on the Soren Larson, a two-masted square-rigged sailing ship. We sailed from Panama via the Galapagos and I spent a delightful week on Easter Island before flying on to Tahiti and New Zealand. Along the way, I became intrigued with carved figures and petroglyphs that seemed to depict joined human beings which I took as textbook illustrations of conjoined twins. That experience, plus a search of the literature, has led to this paper. My interest stems from the ethical considerations involved in the care of six sets of twins (Raffensperger 1997:249-255). I was, however, unaware of artistic representations of joined human figures until I observed a terracotta statuette from Mexico in the Museo de Colon, Gran Canaria.