Easter Island Discovery

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Suspense and discovery on Easter Island by Stephen Roger Fischer

In March of this year, a 25-year-old Finish visitor created a stir on Easter Island when he cut off part of the ears of a 600-year-old sculpture in the sacred village of Anakena on the north-east shore of the island. This was testified by an enraged Rapanui, one of the natives of Easter Island, who informed the locals about it.

The Finn now faces a heavy financial penalty, perhaps even a prison sentence, because he has defaced what Chile, the ruling state of Easter Island, believes to be its invaluable domestic heritage. On the eastern side along the same coastline, Hanga Ho'onu or "Turtle Bay" was rediscovered. With the help of state-of-the-art technology of observidian hydratation dating, archeologists have discovered that the so-called "cultural collapse" of Easter Island probably did not take place before the invasion of Europe, as many have claimed: it took place much later - perhaps even around 1800, they say - possibly as a consequence of this foreign intervention.

This new finding, which now requires expert reassessment of previous scenes, was underlined by a specific meeting held in April at the Archaeological Museum on Easter Island and with the participation of archeologists from New Zealand, the USA and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Dr. Fischer took us to Easter Island in 2009.