[ExI] Easter Island

[BillK]

On 3/26/09, Lee Corbin wrote:
>  Er, Bill, I hope that you realize that this would mean
>  armed resistance.
>
>  Are you advocating that these peaceful islanders actually
>  create a war department, organize, but weapons from
>  international arms dealers, tax their own citizens?
>
>  And, if too many free riders "didn't want nothin' to do
>  with no war", use conscription??
>
>  Come now. Wouldn't it be better to just practice civil
>  disobedience and wait for the Europeans and slave traders
>  to realize the errors of their ways?
>


:)
I don't think they were particularly peaceful.  The South Sea
islanders fought on every other island, so they probably liked a good
brawl on Easter Island as well.
Although most of the spearheads found on the island seem to have a
later date when they were resisting the attacks of the slaver ships.

To support Damien, rat bones are the most prolific bones excavated on
Easter Island. The settlers were eating the rats as one of their food
sources.
Hunt claims that rat remains indicate that the rodent population
spiked at 20 million from 1200 to 1300 and then dropped off to a mere
1 million after the trees were gone and their food resources
disappeared. After that, if there was little food for the rats, there
was probably little for the humans either.

It seems reasonable to me that the human growth rate would drop in
line with the worsening environment. Human populations cannot grow
without regular supplies of food and water. At a lower growth rate and
with few resources available the population might never have been much
more than 5000. There would have been fights over the available food,
but after the rats destroyed the trees the islanders had few options
left.


BillK