Rapa Nui Journal Volume 10 Issue 4

Where in the World is Tonga? Samantha J. Fisk, Kin Publications, 558 E. Double Street, Carson, California. 1996 Soft cover, map, 4 pages color photographs; 19 pages black and white pictures plus spot photos; 50 pages; 14.95. ISBI 0-9644426-3-9.

Reviewed by the Editors

The Riddle of the Pacific. John Macmillan Brown. 1996 (reprint). Softcover, 312 pages, 128 illustrations. Originally published in 1924. ISBN 0-932813-29-1. Adventures Unlimited Press. 303 Main St., Kempton, IL 60619 $16.95.

Review by William Liller

People of the Great Ocean. Aspects of Human Biology of the Early Pacific. Philip Houghton. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1996. Hard cover, 247 pages, plus references and index. Maps, tables, graphs; $64. ISBN 0-521 -47166-4.

Review by Georgia Lee

International News

What's New in Polynesia

What's New in Hanga Roa

This paper presents an analytical approach to megalithic statue (moai) transport on Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Archaeological field inventory has yielded metric data describing 55 morphological attributes of 887 moai: Of this number, 383 moai were sufficiently intact to be entered in a computerized data base (Cristino et al. 1981; Van Tilburg 1986: Vargas 1988; Gonzalez et al. 1988). An isolated subset of 134 moai, each possessing ten crucial measurements defining individual size, shape, weight and proportionate relationships of head to body, was submitted to cluster analysis. Six groupings of morphologically similar statues resulted, four of which are viable (Van Tilburg 1993: 91-2). Further analysis determined that the morphologically and statistically average statue transported from Rano Raraku quarry to various extra-quarry locations was a vertically rectangular cylinder standing 4.05 m tall and weighing 12.5 m tons (Van Tilburg 1993: 94). A transport model hypothesized for this average moai thus may be generalized with confidence to 46.9% of the moai in the study.

The unique statues of Easter Island and their associated structures, the ahu, have puzzled the minds of scientists and laymen for more than two hundred years and their age and origin are still not ascertained. The same uncertainty is valid for the question of the primary settlement of the island. As is natural, the preserved early accounts of visits to the Island devote special attention to the statues, and ahu, but they do not include any useful information with regard to their age.

The Easter Island Anthropological Expedition, directed by George W. Gill (University of Wyoming), arrived on Easter Island in 1981 with tbe goal of investigating a sample of human burials from both a biological and an archaeological perspective. William Mulloy originally suggested to Gill that they form a joint physical anthropology and archaeology project to investigate the numerous human burials that were becoming exposed due both to human and natural causes. It is unfortunate that Mulloy was unable to see this expedition to the field stage, but his vision and ideas were certainly critical in defining the archaeological aspects of the project. Andrea Seelenfreund and I carried out the archaeological investigation of burial practices, with continued input and assistance from George Gill and Sergio Rapu Haoa. Claudio Cristino, of the Easter Island Research Center, provided valuable information on site locations and characteristics. A total of 21 sites was investigated during the five month field season i 1981. This paper will focus on the patterns of human burial found at nine of these sites - all cave sites located along the Island's south coast (Shaw ms I).

In 1986-1988 The Kon-Tiki Museum sponsored an archaeological project in Anakena bay on Easter Island. In 1987, test excavations were conducted in the area about 75 m east of Ahu Nau Nau, and a distinct settlement layer was recovered there. This layer consists of dark brown clayey soil and is between 40-60 cm thick. Two different carbon samples were dated by the C-14 method. They were found to be of almost identical age, dating back to A. D. 1126-1272 and A.D. 1153-1268. In one of the test trenches (trench S) a harpoon-head was found in the settlement layer. This is the first find of a prehistoric bone harpoon from Easter Island, and it will here be submitted to a closer presentation and discussion.

Studies of ahu on Easter Island started more than a hundred years ago and a major scientific contribution was provided by the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition in 1955-56. The isolated location of Easter Island on the outskirts of the Polynesian realm and the numerous archaeological remains makes Its prehistory interesting to study, particularly aspects concerning origin and change.