Rapa Nui, a tiny island in the eastern Pacific, is famous for its moais, spectacular statues carved into volcanic rock. First discovered by the Polynesians around 1250 then the Europeans in 1722, the island experienced a demographic collapse that has long been sought to explain. A very widespread hypothesis is that of cultural ecocide, of ecological suicide: the Rapa populations would have collapsed before the arrival of the Europeans. How did archeology and genetics make it possible to exclude this thesis?
What is rongorongo, an undeciphered writing originating from Rapa Nui?
A report produced by Céline Loozen
Lighting on four tablets exhibited at the Musée du Quai Branly exceptional loan from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, which opens up another enigma of the practices and know-how of the island’s inhabitants. Meeting with Stéphanie Leclerc-Caffarelanthropologist, head of the Oceania collection at the Quai Branly museum.
To go further
Find le thread of today’s show on La Science’s X feed, CQFD.
Easter Island: study debunks myth of Rapa Nui collapse (National Geographic, 2024)
The location of the Easter Island statues is obvious (Research, 2019)
New statue discovered on Easter Island (Le Monde, 2023)
The Black Room Listen later
Read listen
Musical references
Today’s title: Isla Desierta by Ozuna
The opening credits: goca world by Altin Gun
The end credits: Pingpxng par Yin Yin
