Easter Island Forest

The analysis of plant microfossils shows disturbed forests and a mixed cultivation system in Te Niu, Easter Island.

It' rat, not man, that killed Easter Island.

However, now there is new proof that man may not have been guilty of it all. Though Easter Island has long been considered the most important example of a self-destructive tradition, it seems that the true guilty were the rat - up to three million of them.

Densely wooded palms and more than 20 other species of tree and shrub had largely vanished. It has been found that there are several thousand bone fragments of a rata, and it is crucial that much of the forest management has been damaged prior to the signs of fire on the island. Arriving, the hibernating hibernation was almost limitless.

" that the Easter Island ecological disaster was veiled by speculations about the intent of the last trees being cut down: Maybe a rat just ate the last of the beans. "there were more mammals than there were human beings leading to deforestation."

Restoration of Easter Island landscapes

In one of the most isolated isles of the world, our volonteers uncovered the ingenious agriculture that survived on Easter Island. From under the huge rocky mai, they carried out land surveying, took photos and GPS co-ordinates, surveyed rock characteristics and grubbed gras and excavated test holes in gardening to record the development of agriculture on the island.

These artefacts shed the spotlight on the life of the natives of Easter Island, their cultures and their last destiny in the face of tough environment and Europe's destruction. They also assisted in conducting a number of control farming trials to assess how efficient the island's pre-historic lithian (stone) mulch system has been in nourishing its population and what impact this could have had on the Easter Island's population.

It has established a botanic reservation for endangered plant life and has been involved in the reforestation of critical areas of the island. Scientists investigated whether old farming techniques could help today's Easter Islanders better meet their farming needs. Massively sculptured stones (moai) puncturing this secluded island of Polynesia have confused the discoverers for hundreds of years.

However, these celebrated behemoths are not the whole history of Easter Island. Before the catastrophic changes here in the seventeenth centuary, the island' s residents were enjoying a thousand years of tranquillity and wealth, safeguarded by pioneering cultivation methods. The Easter Island has been suffering from severe ground degradation over the last few hundred years and has made it harder to farm. Historically, this has been alleviated by an effective rockery-based system of agronomy.

You have also assisted in conducting experimentation to see if and how this ancient technique can be re-introduced to the island today. The Easter Island is a privileged area of Chile 2,300 kilometres (3,700 kilometres) western of Santiago. It is a three volcanic delta; the research area was the highlands and the area around them on the island's volcan.

On the volcanic hillsides there are prehistorical battlements. Agrofields can be recognised by the concentration of the surfaces of rock and small blocks of rock. In between the garden there are home places with small stones. The Easter Island coast temple (ahu) and statues (moai) are large, imposing and inimitable.

You gave a tour of the rocks.

Survey on Easter Island. Volunteers for an archeological adventures on Easter Island. You will be staying in comfortable twin rooms in the Refugio Arqueológico, a small, family-run guest house and Germany's archeological centre, about 20 minutes on foot from Hanga Roa, the only city on Easter Island. Take your favourite trails or crops with you - and some to split!

because such groceries can be great for the fields and are difficult to obtain locally.