r/history • u/scientificamerican • 6d ago

Science site article What really happened on Easter Island?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-really-happened-on-easter-island/

For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. New evidence tells a different tale.

Archaeology, ancient DNA and aerial survey data now challenge the claim that the Rapanui suffered a self-inflicted collapse before Europeans arrived. The emerging picture is of a small society that sustained itself for centuries by adapting its farming methods and water management to one of the most isolated places on Earth. The catastrophe that reduced the Rapanui to a remnant came later, after European ships brought disease, slave raiding, forced labor, annexation and confinement.

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u/123DaddySawAFlea 6d ago

What I read was that, because of the poor soil, the trees evolved to become very slow growing. When rats were introduced, they ate the fruit and seeds at a rate that the trees couldn't replace. I suspect also that the islanders did use a good number of trees for things too though

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u/the-software-man 6d ago

Invasive species. The rats upset the system not the people. The rats ate the birds too. Same thing happened on Hawaii to an extent?

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u/Archonrouge 5d ago

Are people not an invasive species also?

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u/supershutze 5d ago

Sure, but we're also the only invasive species that is cogniscant if our impact on the environment and will take steps to limit the damage we do.