[ExI] BBC Easter Island documentary

[BillK]

On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 12:48 PM, Alfio Puglisi  wrote:
> Interesting video. But after watching it, I proceeded to re-read the chapter
> about Easter Island on Diamond's "Collapse" book, written in 2005. It
> describes everything shown in the video, and many more details, in the end
> supporting the traditional view of overpopulation and environmental
> collapse. The video goes to great lenghts to refute the accuse of
> cannibalism, which is horrorific to us but no big deal for other
> populations, and is in the end just a side note on the whole story. The only
> thing displayed even more prominently is the narcissism of the
> protagonist... he's omnipresent in the shoots.
>
>

The presenter, Jago Cooper, is a well-credentialled archeologist
presently working for the British Museum as Curator of the Americas in
the department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. He has many
published papers.
I think he is explaining the latest research findings, which seem to
contradict Diamond's 'Just so' story. A native population being
destroyed by contact with Europeans through disease, slavery and
invasion has happened many times elsewhere.

<http://britishmuseum.academia.edu/JagoCooper>

Cooper is much involved in popularising archaeology through television
and has done several programs. I wouldn't worry about him appearing a
lot in the video. Most of the time he is talking and explaining
something. Attenborough has been appearing in nature documentaries for
70 years!

The long video is no longer available, but there are a few short clips here:
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03srmm6/clips>

BillK