Topic 7
Reading
Easter Island, a small, remote island in the Pacific Ocean, was once home to a flourishing culture. But about 500 years ago (A. D. 1500), its society went into a steep decline. History teaches us that events like this are often caused by outside influences. So it is not unreasonable to consider whether there are fACTs about the decline of Easter Island’s society that would be explained by a hypothesis of an invasion.
One such fACT has to do with trees. Most Pacific island societies have managed to find an ecologically balanced way of living by using—but not overexploiting—natural resources such as trees. Most Pacific islands, therefore, remain lush—but not Easter Island. Although it was once densely forested, most of its trees had disappeared by about 500 years ago. Environmental destruction of this sort has often been caused by invaders who deplete an area’s natural resources without any concern for the future.
FACTs about the large stone statues on Easter Island could also support the idea of an invasion. There are about 900 of these statues on the island; the largest is over 20 meters tall. The native society clearly placed a great deal of importance on their production. Yet about the same time that the island became deforested, islanders stopped making these huge statues. An invasion would help explain why this traditional prACTice came to a sudden end.
Furthermore, we know that around the time these other changes were taking place, a new religion developed on Easter Island: the “Birdman” worship. There is no convincing evidence that the Birdman religion existed before 1500, which suggests that this new religious prACTice may have been introduced by outsiders.
Topic 7 Listening
The idea considered in the reading is not unreasonable in the abstrACT, but all the concrete evidence points to internal causes for the decline of Easter Island’s culture 500 years ago. It’s a sad story of a native culture that did not have the foresight to sustain itself.
In the centuries before 1500, the inhabitants of Easter Island were prosperous… so prosperous that they were able to invest extra time and energy in building giant statues, which became important signs of status. Different island communities began competing as to who could erect the most statues. Now here’s where the problem for trees comes in: archaeological evidence shows that the islanders used tree logs to move the statues into position. So, as the number of statues increased, more and more trees had to be cut, until finally, 500 years ago, there were no more left.
Of course, once the trees were gone, the islander could no longer build rafts to fish at sea, and so they could no longer catch big fish. As the necessities of life became harder and harder to get, the islanders no longer had the time and energy to create big statues. Without logs, of course, they couldn't move the statues anyway, so naturally the interest in making the statues declined.
Finally, it would not be surprising if the islanders lost confidence in their old gods when life on the island became a struggle for survival. I mean, the old gods wouldn’t seem to be protecting them any more. So it would be natural for the islanders to have developed a different religious idea, hoping that the new god would ensure them a better life.