Rapa Nuialso known as Easter Island or Te Pito o Te Henua (navel of the world) is one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth, located 1,900 km from the nearest Polynesian island and 3,700 km from South America.
The biggest mysteries of Easter Island
Despite extensive research by archaeologists, anthropologists, and geneticists, two key aspects of Rapa Nui’s history remain controversial. The first is the theory that the Easter Island population was wiped out by “ecocide” or mismanagement of the environment.
The second debate revolves around whether the Rapanui’s Polynesian ancestors had contact with Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans in 1722.
New clues in Easter Island ruins
A new study published in the journal Nature examines the genomes of 15 Rapanui people who lived between 1670 and 1950. The Easter Island remains, stored in the Museum of Man in Paris, were analyzed by an international group of scientists including Associate Professor Victor Moreno-Mayar of the University of Copenhagen and researchers from institutions in Europe, the United States, Chile and Rapa Nui itself.
The study sheds light on both ecological theory and the possibility of trans-Pacific contact.
An instructive story
For years, the story of Rapa Nui was used as a warning of ecological collapse. After the island was settled by Polynesians around 1250, its landscape changed dramatically.
The famous moai statues were erected and the once lush forests, especially palm trees, disappeared by the 1600s. According to the “ecocide” hypothesis, environmental changes were triggered by population growth over 15,000, which led to resource depletion, wars, famine, and even cannibalism, ultimately resulting in catastrophic population declines.
Easter Island’s population was surprisingly stable
But a new genetic study challenges this narrative. Researchers expected to find signs of a sudden population decline in the genomes of the ancient Rapanui, but their analysis found no such genetic evidence.
Co-author of the study is Bárbara Sousa da Mota, a researcher at the University of Lausanne.
“Our genetic analysis shows a stable population growth from the 13th century until European contact in the 18th century. This stability is critical because it directly contrasts with the pre-contact population decline,” says Souza da Mota.
The study demonstrates the Rapanui population’s resilience to adapt to environmental change and suggests that the main disruptions occurred with European colonial activities after 1722.
The resolution of a long debate
Another long-debated issue is whether the Rapanui’s Polynesian ancestors reached the Americas before Europeans arrived. While previous studies have ruled out such contact, the new study paints a different picture.
By generating high-quality ancient genomes, the researchers found that around ten percent of the Rapanui gene pool was of Native American origin. Importantly, the team found that this contact likely predated the arrival of Europeans.
The spread of ancient DNA
The lead author of the study is Viktor Moreno-Mayar, an associate professor at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
“We investigated how Native American DNA is distributed across the Polynesian genetic background of the Rapanui people. This distribution is consistent with contact occurring between the 13th and 15th centuries,” explained Moreno-Mayar.
While the study cannot pinpoint where exactly this contact occurred, its findings suggest that Rapanui ancestors may have reached the Americas before Columbus, meaning Polynesians made much more epic journeys than previously thought.
Questioning the Easter Island narrative
The new findings challenge long-held narratives about Easter Island and the extinction potential of the island’s population.
“Personally, I think the idea of ecocide is part of the colonial narrative,” Moreno-Mayar says. “The idea that these so-called primitive people were unable to manage their resources and nearly destroyed themselves is not supported by genetic evidence.”
“While we must accept that the arrival of humans fundamentally changed the ecosystem, there is no evidence of a population extinction before the arrival of Europeans. So we can put an end to these ideas.”
Terrifying journeys across the Pacific Ocean
The study also refutes the idea that the genetic origins of Native Americans in the lands of the modern Rapanui people are linked solely to European colonial activities, pointing instead to earlier interactions between Rapanui and Native Americans.
“We think this means that the Rapanuians were capable of much more epic journeys across the Pacific Ocean than previously thought,” Sousa da Mota says.
The research team worked directly with the Rapanui community, including the Comisión Asesora de Monumentos Nacionales (CAMN), to ensure the study answered questions of interest to both scientists and islanders.
Genetic discoveries
One of the most important results of these discussions was the confirmation that the ancient Rapanui people studied were most closely related to the modern Rapa Nui population.
“We found that there were errors and misidentifications in the museum archives. “Now that we have identified these 15 individuals as in fact Rapanui people, we know they belong on the island,” said Moana Gorman Edmunds, a Rapa Nui archaeologist and co-author of the study.
Source: Port Altele
