Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:13:29.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prehistoric and early historic agriculture at Maunga Orito, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Christopher M. Stevenson ,
Thomas L. Jackson ,
Andreas Mieth ,
Hans-Rudolf Bork  and
Thegn N. Ladefoged
Christopher M. Stevenson
Affiliation:
1Virginia Department of Historic Resources, 2801 Kensington Avenue, Richmond, VA 23221, USA (Email: christopher.stevenson@dhr.virginia.gov)
Thomas L. Jackson
Affiliation:
2Pacific Legacy, 1525 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95062, USA (Email: legacytj@yahoo.com)
Andreas Mieth
Affiliation:
3University of Kiel, Ecology Centre, Olshausenstrasse 40, D 24098 Kiel, Germany (Email: amieth@ecology.uni-kiel.de)
Hans-Rudolf Bork
Affiliation:
4University of Kiel, Ecology Centre, Olshausenstrasse 40, D 24098 Kiel, Germany (Email: hrbork@ecology.uni-kiel.de)
Thegn N. Ladefoged
Affiliation:
5Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand (Email: t.ladefoged@auckland.ac.nz)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A long section adjacent to a former obsidian quarry on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) reveals a sequence of agricultural strategies, beginning with the clearing of palm trees in the twelfth century AD, and the making of an open garden growing yams and taro, that continued through the fifteenth century. The later phases between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries include veneer and boulder gardens that reflect the broader strategy employed by the islanders to fight the increasingly arid soil.

Keywords

PolynesiaEaster Islandagriculturelithic mulcherosiondeforestation
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 310 , 1 December 2006 , pp. 919 - 936
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bork, H.-R., Mieth, A. & Tschnochner, B.. 2004. Nothing but stones? A review of the extent and technical efforts of prehistoric stone mulching on Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui Journal 18 (1): 10–14.Google Scholar
Flenley, J.R. 1998. New data and new thoughts about Rapa Nui, in Stevenson, C.M., Lee, G. & Morin, F.J. (ed.) Easter Island in Pacific context, south seas symposium. Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Easter Island and east Polynesia: 125–8. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville & Cloud Mountain Presses.Google Scholar
Flenley, J.R., King, S.M., Teller, J., Prentice, M., Jackson, J. & Chew, C.. 1991. The late Quaternary vegetational and climatic history of Easter Island. Journal of Quaternary Science 6: 85–115.Google Scholar
Green, R.C. 2005. Sweet potato transfers in Polynesian prehistory, in Ballard, C., Brown, P., Bourke, R.M. & Harwood, T. (ed.) The Sweet Potato in Oceania: A Reappraisal: 43–62. Sydney and Pittsburgh: Oceania Monograph.Google Scholar
Hather, J.G. & Kirch, P.V.. 1991. Prehistoric sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) from Mangaia Island, central Polynesia. Antiquity 65: 887–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, T.L. & Lipo, C.P.. 2001. Cultural elaboration and environmental uncertainty, in Stevenson, C.M., Lee, G. & Morin, F.J. (ed.) Pacific 2000, proceedings of the fifth international conference on Easter Island and the Pacific: 103–16. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville & Cloud Mountain Presses.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, T.N., Stevenson, C.M, Vitousek, P. & Chadwick, O.. 2005. Soil nutrient depletion and the collapse of Rapa Nui society. Rapa Nui Journal 19 (2): 100–105.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, T.N., Graves, M.W. & Coil, J.. 2005. The introduction of sweet potato in Polynesia: Early sweet potato remains in Hawai'i. Journal of the Polynesian Society 114 (4): 359–73.Google Scholar
Louwagie, G. 2003. Palaeo-environment reconstruction and evaluation based on land characteristics on archaeological sites. Case Study I: Verrebroek “Dok” and Doel “Duerganckdok”, Case Study II: Easter Island. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Ghent, Belgium.Google Scholar
Louwagie, G. & Langohr, R.. 2002. Testing land evaluation methods for crop growth on two soils of the La Perouse area (Easter Island, Chile). Rapa Nui Journal 16: 23–8.Google Scholar
Martinsson-Wallin, H. & Wallin, P.. 2000. Ahu and settlement: Archaeological excavations at ‘Anakena and La Perouse, in Stevenson, C.M. & Ayres, W.S. (ed.) Easter Island Archaeology: Research on Early Rapanui Culture: 27–44. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville Press.Google Scholar
McCoy, P.C. 1976. Easter Island settlement patterns in the Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric periods. New York (NY): Bulletin 5, International Fund for Monuments Inc., Easter Island Committee.Google Scholar
Mieth, A. & Bork, H.-R.. 2003. Diminution and degradation of environmental resources by prehistoric land use on Poike Peninsula, Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Rapa Nui Journal 17 (1): 34–41.Google Scholar
Orliac, C. 2000. The woody vegetation of Easter Island between the early fourteenth and midseventeenth centuries AD, in Stevenson, C.M. & Ayres, W.S. (ed.) Easter Island Archaeology: Research on Early Rapanui Culture: 211–20. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville Press.Google Scholar
Orliac, C. & Orliac, M.. 1998. The disappearance of Easter Island's forest: over exploitation or climatic catastrophe, in Stevenson, C.M., Lee, G. & Morin, F.J. (ed.) Easter Island in Pacific context, south seas symposium. Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Easter Island and east Polynesia: 129–34. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville & Cloud Mountain Presses.Google Scholar
Stevenson, C.M. 1997. Archaeological investigations on Easter Island. Maunga Tari: an upland agricultural complex. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville & Cloud Mountain Presses.Google Scholar
Stevenson, C.M. & Haoa, S.. 1998. Prehistoric gardening systems and agricultural intensification in the La Perouse area of Easter Island, in Stevenson, C.M., Lee, G. & Morin, F.J. (ed.) Easter Island in Pacific context, south seas symposium. Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Easter Island and east Polynesia: 205–13. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation. Bearsville & Cloud Mountain Presses.Google Scholar
Stevenson, C.M., Wozniak, J. & Haoa, S.. 1999. Prehistoric agricultural production on Rapa Nui. Antiquity 73: 801–12.Google Scholar
Stevenson, C.M., Ladefoged, T. & Haoa, S.. 2002. Productive strategies in an uncertain environment: prehistoric agriculture on Easter Island. Rapa Nui Journal 16 (1): 17–22.Google Scholar
Stevenson, C.M., Ladefoged, T.N., Haoa, S. & Guerra, A.T.. 2005. Managed agricultural production in the Vaitea region of Rapa Nui, Chile, in Stevenson, C.M., Ramirez, J.M., Morin, F. & Barbacci, N. (ed.) VI International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific: 125–36. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville Press.Google Scholar
Wallin, P., Ladefoged, T. & Stevenson, C.M.. 2005. Sweet potato production on Rapa Nui, in Ballard, C., Brown, P., Bourke, R.M. & Harwood, T. (ed.) The Sweet Potato in Oceania: A Reappraisal: 85–8. Sydney and Pittsburgh: Oceania Monograph.Google Scholar
Wozniak, J.A. 1998. Settlement patterns and subsistence on the northwest coast of Rapa Nui, in Stevenson, C.M., Lee, G. & Morin, F.J. (ed.) Easter Island in Pacific context, south seas symposium. Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Easter Island and east Polynesia: 185–92. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville & Cloud Mountain Presses.Google Scholar
Wozniak, J.A. 1999. Prehistoric horticultural practices on Easter Island-lithic mulched gardens and field systems. Rapa Nui Journal 13: 95–9.Google Scholar
Wozniak, J.A. 2001. Landscapes of food production on Easter Island: successful subsistence strategies, in Stevenson, C.M., Lee, G. & Morin, F.J. (ed.) Pacific 2000, proceedings of the fifth international conference on Easter Island and the Pacific: 91–102. Los Osos (CA): Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville & Cloud Mountain Presses.Google Scholar