ANTH 9 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sewing Needle, Dicotyledon, Rano Raraku
16 Jul 2020
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Science allows us to evaluate claims that people make. Goal: build systematic descriptions of the world to generate answers. Thousands of statues that were scattered t/o the island. Pukao: hats on statues transported along 6-8 miles of volcanic rock. Thor heyerdahl: used a contraptions/sledge to move statues (1950) *pavo pablo: swiveled back and forth standing ruin base and ground down to nose. Humans arrived in 1280 easter island was covered with a dense palm forest (jubea. Chiliensis: massive palm trees) extinction by 1722 (deforestation; environmental collapse population collapse ecocide: overexploited own resources) Polynesians brought the rat eats palm nuts less germination radically change environment deforestation. Lithic mulching: rocks increase productivity of crops cultivation less trees, more rocks, more population supported. Palm trees are not hardwood trees dicots (grasses) giant tubes bad for rollers for statues. **archaeology only explains what is seen in present to understand past going beyond stories and plausibility.
