Rapa Nui Journal Volume 13 Issue 2

Jose Miguel Ramirez A. Patrimonio Cultural y Comunidad en Rapa Nui (Cultural Heritage and the Community in Rapa Nui) In: Patrimonio Arqueologico Indigena en Chile. Reflexiones y Propuestas de Gestion. Ximena Navarro Harris and Leonor Adan Alfaro, Eds., Instituto de Estudios Indigenas, Universidad de la Frontera and UNESCO, Santiago, Chile 1998, pp. 125-131, ISBN. 956-236-114-4

Review by A. Elena Charala, Ph.D.

Consultant, World Monuments Fund, Easter Island Program

Moai Sightings

What's New at the Kon-Tiki Museum

What's New in the USA

What's New in Polynesia

What's New in Hangaroa

This paper concerns traditional as well as modern beliefs about Hawaiian 'aumakua, personal or family gods that originated as deified ancestors. They may take on physical forms such as spirit vehicles. An 'aumakua (plural, 'aumakua) may be manifested in a shark, owl, bird, octopus, selected plants, or even rocks.

The site known as Papa te Kena lies on the northeast coast of Easter Island, northwest of 'Anakena and east of Hanga 'Oteo. This wild and isolated spot on the cliff's edge is far from the inhabited parts of the island. The site features ruins of ancient structures, a large cave, and areas of papa (smooth lava flow), some of which contain petroglyphs. There is an extensive tidal pool on the edge of the ocean. Along with various crew members, I worked on this site in 1981, 1982, and 1986 as part of a study of the island's petroglyph sites. Although Mulloy (1965) and William Ayres (1975) also worked at this site they did not note the rock carvings or, if so, failed to mention them. The papa is in poor condition making it difficult to see the designs, and it is possible they were simply overlooked.

Recently I visited Berlin to have a look at new developments there. Newspaper reports since the fall of the infamous wall and the re-establishment of Berlin as the capital of united Germany indicated that extraordinary developments are taking place. I can confirm that this is no exaggeration although there is still a very marked difference between the well developed and lively West Berlin and the drab and rundown East Berlin, where the plaster on many houses still shows the impact of bullets. However, the building activity now going on around the Potsdamer Platz is simply terrific.

One of the reasons for going to Berlin was that I hoped to be able to get a look at the original manuscript of the journal of Johann Reinhold Forster (1729- 1798), dating from his visit to Easter Island in March 1774. Forster was the German botanist on Captain Cook's second exploration trip on the Resolution.

Bahn and Flenley (1992) suggested that the Rapanui provide a rare example of cultural suicide, in a scenario which had them exploiting their forest ecobase so heavily that they destroyed it, with ensuing resource shortage producing civil war, cannibalism, and a 70% reduction of the population. Others have popularized this interpretation (Ponting 1993; Gonick and Outwater 1996; Bush 1997) and despite criticism, Flenley (1998) stands by it, defending each of the aspects which has been questioned, and again suggesting Rapa Nui as an earnest for the world on the basis of the Club of Rome's latest findings (Meadows et al. 1992).