[ExI] Genetic Evidence Overrules Ecocide Theory of Easter Island

[BillK]

On Thu, 12 Sept 2024 at 05:03, Keith Henson via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> Now, please understand that I have no first-hand knowledge, so what I
> know if from Google searches, like
>
> https://www.sciencealert.com ›
> scientists-closer-to-understanding-what-wiped-out-easter-island-society
>
> "Scientists Are Closer to Understanding What Wiped Out Easter Island ...
<snip>
> If you are going to argue for a much smaller number, then you need to
> suggest something that kept the population down.
>
> Keith
> _______________________________________________


That study is from 2015. There has been much more research done since then.

<https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/what-really-happened-easter-island>
Quote:
What Really Happened on Easter Island?
A Columbia study helps debunk an old theory about the island’s mysterious past.
By   Kevin Krajick '76GS, '77JRN    Fall 2024

A new study by Columbia archaeologist Dylan Davis challenges this
narrative, claiming that the Rapa Nui people did not overpopulate the
island but rather maintained a small and stable settlement right up
until the Europeans arrived. The evidence: a comprehensive survey of
the island’s farmland that indicates that its inhabitants grew only
enough crops to feed four thousand people at any given time.

“This shows that the population could never have been as big as some
of the earlier estimates suggested,” says Davis, who is a postdoctoral
research fellow at the Columbia Climate School.
----------------------

This is what the new DNA research published in 'Nature' has confirmed.

BillK