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Easter Island society did not collapse prior to European contact, new research shows:
Easter Island society did not collapse prior to European contact and its people continued to build its iconic moai statues for much longer than previously believed, according to a team of researchers including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.
The island of Rapa Nui is well-known for its elaborate ritual architecture, particularly its numerous statues (moai) and the monumental platforms that supported them (ahu). A widely-held narrative posits that construction of these monuments ceased sometime around 1600, following a major societal collapse.
"Our research flies in the face of this narrative," said Carl Lipo, an anthropologist at Binghamton University. "We know, of course, that if we are right, we really need to challenge ourselves (and the archaeological record) to validate our arguments. In this case, we thought to look carefully at the tempo of construction events associated with large platforms."
The researchers, led by the University of Oregon's Robert J. DiNapoli, examined radiocarbon dates, relative architectural stratigraphy and ethnohistoric accounts to quantify the onset, rate and end of monument construction as a means of testing the collapse
[...] "What we found is that once people started to build monuments shortly after arrival to the island, they continued this construction well into the period after Europeans arrived," said Lipo. "This would not have been the case had there been some pre-contact "collapse"— indeed, we should have seen all construction stop well before 1722. The lack of such a pattern supports our claims and directly falsifies those who continue to support the 'collapse' account.
"Once Europeans arrive on the island, there are many documented tragic events due to disease, murder, slave raiding and other conflicts," he added. "These events are entirely extrinsic to the islanders and have, undoubtedly, devastating effects. Yet, the Rapa Nui people — following practices that provided them great stability and success over hundreds of years — continued their traditions in the face of tremendous odds. The degree to which their cultural heritage was passed on – and is still present today through language, arts and cultural practices — is quite notable and impressive. I think this degree of resilience has been overlooked due to the "collapse" narrative, and deserves recognition."
Journal Reference:
Robert J. DiNapoli, Timothy M. Rieth, Carl P. Lipo, Terry L. Hunt. A model-based approach to the tempo of "collapse": The case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Journal of Archaeological Science (DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2020.105094)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 12 2020, @07:21AM (2 children)
People are not failing because of what happened a hundred, let alone hundreds of years ago. They're failing because of what they do, or do not do, today.
Many people are born into poverty. What happens from there is not decided by your grandfather, but by you. If you do at all decent in school (and frankly even if you don't in modern times) that opens the door to college. Get a real degree, and you're set for life. And this system is already substantially weighted in favor of e.g. blacks and natives, since most admissions systems for colleges are racist and will give you a much higher admissions eval, compared to an identical person in an identical situation, if your skin happens to be black and theirs is not. Even if the college path is not for you, there are a ton of skilled trades people can get involved in. There's a never-ending need for plumbers, electricians, AC guys, and so on. And even better there - these generally work on apprenticeship systems and instead of going into debt during your education, you're actually getting paid to learn!
The past was not pretty and the future's not looking like it'll be much better. But on a personal level, we live in the present. And the decisions you make today are the primary factor deciding what your future will hold for you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 12 2020, @06:36PM (1 child)
Incorrect, at least here in the US there are many cities where minority communities are oppressed, legislation crafted to target and disenfranchise them, zoning rules to make things harder.
For example, freeway off/on ramps are frequently not built for specific communities. Voter ID laws end up targeting specific demographics. The War on Drugs was to incarcerate minorities and thus strip their voting rights. Kids that grew up with parents in jail have less chances of succeeding.
This typical "personal responsibility" trope is so asinine and arrogant. How does that square up with a child who is malnourished because they grew up in poverty? The child didn't have a choice and paid in their physiological well being which in turn impacts their success in life.
Go back to Atlas Shrugged, then revel in the fact that Ayn Rand required welfare at the end of her life. She is a stain on human history.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 18 2020, @07:08PM
No there are not. You're simply making stuff up at this point. There are some things that affect groups of people differently because of the behavior of people, however. For instance blacks tend to default on loans at a vastly higher rate than other groups, and thus tend to be undesirable to lend to. And so you can look at the data and see 'banks not lending to blacks'. No, banks are not lending to people who they don't think will default. And similarly, the rate of of malnutrition for lack of food availability in the US is practically zero. You're engaging in a typical fallacy and taking a near non-existent group, and arguing as if they make up some relevant chunk of society. They don't.
And Ayn Rand was nothing more than a useful idiot elevated for purposes of propaganda. I base my views on reality and facts, not on ideology. The difference between the two being that I subscribe to no ideology. Ideologies are the AIDS of the mind.