Why is Easter Island important

UHI has made its experience in digging and survey available to the UHI which is now in its forth year of existence exploring the techniques and capabilities behind the world-famous "Ahu" ceremony mementos. Over the past few years, Professor Jane Downes, together with Professor Colin Richards of the University of Manchester, has conducted archaeological digs in the Puna Pau pit from where the reddish stonehats or pukaos overcoming the huge rock sculptures (moai) have been excavated.

However, Professor Downes says that it is now important that the next Easter Island generations are motivated to look after their own legacy. "Inheritance, as you would think, is the most important factor of the island's economy. "However, at this point, the further exploitation and preservation of Rapa Nui's archeological legacy is at stake, with new development and the allocation of lands, as the municipality goes through a repatriation or" cleared" procedure in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

"That is in competition with the need to better comprehend and preserve archeological sites. "The formation of cultural heritages is therefore the keys to a better appreciation of the value of the past and its relics and to the development of experts for the present and the past who can work in administration and preservation.

The Easter Island is 2,300 leagues off the Chilean coastline. Every year, the Landscapes of Construction has worked with Rapanuin personnel on site, training archeology undergraduates, tourist leaders and the ranger of the area. "This year, our main emphasis on Easter Island was on expanding our outline activities - Alison's doctoral thesis focuses on the formation of cultural inheritance and the evaluation of the impact of collaborative and outline programs, so that their abilities and expertise perfectly matched.

"Archeologists from the Orkney and Easter Island Archaeological Preservation Projects have always worked together to exchange experience in the management, interpretation and exploration of the World Heritage Sites in Orkney and Easter Island. "Orkney and Easter Island - our seclusion, our archaeological monuments and our cultural heritage - will be the foundation for the inspiration of young peoples in our congregations.

"We have many common problems - degradation of marine archeology, damages to memorials by the weather and by animals such as animals and horse and tourism overload. It is important to make sure that our young Orkney and Easter Island communities are aware of these dangers and are inspiring themselves to face them in the fuIthr.

He and Alison worked in close collaboration with organizations in Rapunia, in particular Francisco Torres Hochstetter, Director of the Museo Antropológico Padre Sebastián Englert (MAPSE), Paulina Torres Jeria, Educational Officer of the Secretaría Técnica de Patrimonio Rapa Nui (STP), and the Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF), to create a cultural inheritance formation program for 2014/2015, entitled "My Place, Our Heritage".

"It is our goal that kids and teenagers have simultaneous activity in Orkney and Rapid Nui and experience sharing with the web, like Skype and Google Earth. "We hope that this tutorial will result in an interchange between Orkney and Easter Island. For more information on the My Place, Our Heritage or the Department of Archeology at Orkney College UHI, visit http://www.orkney.uhi.ac. uk/studying-at-oc/departments/archaeology or call 01856 569 297.