Rapa Nui Journal Volume 24 Issue 1
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10524/64089
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Item Easter Island Foundation News(2010-05-01)Item What's New Elsewhere(2010-05-01)Item What’s New in Hanga Roa(2010-05-01)Item What's New in the Pacific(2010-05-01)Item Moai Sightings(2010-05-01)Item Publications(2010-05-01)Item Of Rats and Men Commentary on Revisiting Rapa Nui (Easter Island) “Ecocide” in Pacific Science (2009) and Ecological catastrophe, collapse, and the myth of“Ecocide” on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), a chapter in Questioning Collapse. Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire (2010).(2010-05-01) Flenley, John; Bahn, PaulItem Obituary: Knut M. Haugland(2010-05-01) Heyerdahl, Thor Jr.; Solsvik, ReidarItem Obituary: Emeritus Professor Roger Green: Mischievous Raconteur and Mentor 1932–2009(2010-05-01) Storey, Alice A.Item Getting to Know You: Andreas Mieth(2010-05-01)Item A Look Back(2010-05-01) Wilhelm, DickItem Rongorongo Tablet Keiti(2010-05-01) Horley, PaulTHE EARLIEST DESCRIPTION OF RONGORONGO comes from a letter by Brother Eugène Eyraud, dated December 1864. He mentions them as commonly-used objects: “… one finds in all houses wooden tablets or staffs covered with sorts of hieroglyphic characters.” (Orliac and Orliac 2008:62). This sensational news did not attract attention until one of the tablets (later named Echancrée), reached Bishop Tepano Jaussen in June 1869. He understood its importance (ibid:71): “…my attention was immediately drawn to this piece of board … [with] characters in lines and well drawn. This sight even then did not remind me of Mr. Eyraud’s passage, and the astonishment of Father Gaspard, his friend, proves that on Easter Island … Mr. Eyraud had not even shown the missionaries one tablet.” The Bishop urged the missionaries to search for more tablets on Rapa Nui, and all known rongorongo objects were collected in the following twenty years. However, the largest and best-preserved specimens were recovered during the next year, in 1870: Tahua, Aruku Kurenga, Mamari, Keiti and the Large St. Petersburg tablet (presented by Jaussen to N.N. Mikloukho-Maclay, [Fischer 1997:484]). Both Santiago tablets (acquired by the missionaries [ibid:442, 450]) and the Santiago staff (contributed by Dutrou Bornier [ibid:455]) were shipped out on the corvette O’Higgins in the same year. None of the tablets discovered later were as well-preserved. Five additional tablets, damaged by burning, rotting or reuse, were obtained with the help of A. Salmon – three now belong to the museums of Vienna and Berlin. They were acquired after Geiseler’s visit in 1882 (Fischer 1997:501), and two tablets were purchased by W.J. Thomson in 1886 for the Smithsonian Institution (ibid:469). Several inscribed but damaged artifacts were collected by J. L. Young around 1888 and deposited with the Bishop Museum (ibid:459). Some rongorongo artifacts, obtained in the late 19th century (such as the London tablet and a snuffbox made of inscribed pieces of wood) made their way to museums in the 20th Century. If Bishop Jaussen had not initiated an intensive search in 1869, perhaps we would never have had a chance to study any large and intact rongorongo object. The fate of tablet Keiti (or, perhaps, Ke Iti, “the smaller other one”, Fischer 1997:395) was even more dramatic. Bishop Jaussen promised this tablet to Prof. Charles de Harlez, and it was dispatched to Belgium in 1894. After the publication of two papers (mainly dedicated to the Jaussen List) in Le Muséon (1895-6), de Harlez donated Keiti to the Library of the Catholic University of Louvain; it perished in the fires of the First World War (Orliac and Orliac 2008:260). Luckily, before sending the tablet to Louvain, “Bishop Jaussen insisted on making photographs and rubbings” (Lavachery 1933:101), which allowed further study of its text. Despite a considerable progress achieved in the structural analysis of this inscription (Butinov and Knorozov 1956:78, Barthel 1958:304-313, Pozdniakov 1996:299-301, Horley 2007:26-29, Melka 2008:159-171) many questions still remain; some are discussed in this paper. The glyphs shown in the figures in this paper were traced from photographs in the Archives of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (SS.CC.); Bancroft and Hocken Libraries; Museum für Völkerkunde; pictures taken by Scott Nicolay; as well as from photos published by Butinov and Knorozov (1956); Heyerdahl (1975); Klein (1988); Campbell (1999); Kjellgren (2001); and Orliac and Orliac (2008). Tablets, lines and glyphs are referenced using Barthel’s notation. The tracings from Grundlagen were actually drawn by Bodo Spranz (Barthel 1958: Vorwort, Fischer 1997: 239), and are referred to as “Barthel’s tracings” in the sense of “tracings published by Barthel”.Item Damage to Archaeological Sites on Tutuila Island (American Samoa) Following the 29 September 2009 Tsunami*(2010-05-01) Addison, David; Filimoehala, Christopher W.; ,Quintus, Seth J.; Sapieza, TomTUTUILA ISLAND IS PART OF THE SAMOAN Archipelago (Figure 1), located in the South Pacific. On September 29, 2009 an 8.0-8.3 magnitude earthquake occurred close to 200 km SW of Tutuila in the Tonga Trench; it triggered a massive tsunami that killed more than 200 people. On Tutuila 34 people lost their lives, on ‘Upolu 183 died, and on Niuatoputapu 9 perished. Tutuila experienced at least three destructive waves, up to 17 m in height and reaching over 700 m inland in some areas. More than 20 villages on Tutuila sustained substantial damage. At least half of the houses were destroyed in villages located at the eastern and western ends of the islands, such as Tula, Poloa, ‘Aman-ave, Fagasā, Vatia and Āsili, among others. Beaches were heavily impacted with enough erosion in places to expose cultural deposits. The banks and beds of nearshore steams were also scoured by the receding tsunami waves. The impetus behind the survey reported upon here was to record coastal and riparian archaeological remains exposed by the tsunami.Item The Polynesian – Mapuche Connection: Soft and Hard Evidence and New Ideas(2010-05-01) Ramírez-Aliaga, José-MiguelItem Captain A.W. F. Fuller’s Contribution to The Field Museum’s Easter Island Collection(2010-05-01) Simpson, Dale F. Jr.THIS ARTICLE CONCERNS THE CONTRIBUTION by Captain Alfred Walter Francis (A.W.F.) Fuller to The Field Museum’s Easter Island collection. Captain Fuller was an honorary curator at the British Museum, became a Royal Anthropological Institute Fellow in 1910, and had the honor of being named a Patron of The Field Museum in 1958 — a distinction shared at that time with only fourteen other individuals. Although he never entered the Pacific, Fuller amassed more than 7,000 artifacts from many islands including Papua New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomons, Australia, Carolines, Marshalls, Palau, Gilberts, Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Samoa, New Zealand, Marquesas, and Tahiti. Having a great interest in Rapa Nui, Fuller also collected 242 artifacts and pieces of material culture from there. Many of these objects are exceptional and are rarely represented in other collections. By being a passionate collector, a meticulous caregiver, and a Victorian man obsessed with provenance, he left detailed records about where, from whom, and when he acquired objects from Rapa Nui. These objects and Fuller’s records help us to better understand Rapanui material culture collected during the early to mid 1900s.Item The German-Chilean Expedition to Easter Island (1957-58) Part One(2010-05-01) Fischer, Steven RogerTHE TWENTIETH CENTURY SAW SEVERAL MEMORABLE expeditions to Rapa Nui which today orient the expertise of most Easter Island scholars. There was the Chilean Scientific Expedition of 1911 led by German meteorologist and geophysicist Walter Knoche (Knoche 1925). Then came the epochal Mana Expedition of 1913-15 (on Easter Island 1914-15) (Routledge 1919). Of comparable distinction was the Franco-Belgian Expedition of 1934-35 led by Swiss ethnologist Alfred Métraux (Métraux 1940; Lavachery 1935). Still towering in popular prominence is the Norwegian Expedition of 1955-56 conceived and led by celebrated adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (Heyerdahl and Ferdon 1961 and 1965). A few better informed afficionados might also recall the remarkable METEI of 1964-65, the Canadian Medical Expedition to Easter Island led by Stanley Skoryna of McGill University (Boutelier 1992; Skoryna 1992). Yet who today recalls the one that figured between the Norwegian Expedition and Canada’s METEI – the German- Chilean Expedition of 1957-58? In its own fashion it was peer to all the above and, after over fifty years of apparent oblivion, deserves not only recognition but celebration. For, in that era of strident “Heyerdahlism”, its message was a veritable voice in the wilderness that argued the scientific case for a unique Polynesian settlement of Easter Island. Several decades were to pass before the German-Chilean Expedition’s seeming heresy became public orthodoxy.Item The Rano Kau 2 Pollen Diagram: Palaeoecology Revealed(2010-05-01) Butler, K.R.; Flenley, J.R.OF THE THREE POTENTIAL SITES ON RAPA NUI for recovering a continuous palaeoecological record (Flenley et al.1991) Rano Kau has so far proved the best. Rano Raraku has a significant hiatus between 800 BP and c. 2000 BP (Mann et al.2008) and Rano Aroi has surface disturbance, as well as being above the altitude of likely early inhabitants. Rano Kau, however, offered a favorable microclimate for tropical crops (van Steenis 1935), a permanent water supply for early inhabitants, and a long continuous pollen record. Rano Kau core 1, collected in 1977 near the edge of the swamp, yielded a record spanning only just over a millennium. Rano Kau 2, collected in 1977 and near the centre of the caldera, however, has given a continuous record for the last 10 millenia. Initial problems with dating have now been resolved. Furthermore the position near the centre of Rano Kau is likely to give a more generalized record of the palaeoecology. We originally expected this to be an islandwide coverage, as predicted for the centre of large sites by Jacobsen and Bradshaw (1981). The caldera is, however, so deep (c. 200 metres), and the interior slopes so steep (c.30o), that the interior environment is almost windless, and rather isolated from the windy environment of the rest of the island. The result appears to be that each core taken reflects the vegetation on the nearest caldera slopes, with relatively less input than usual from the rest of the island or from long distance transported pollen.