Dating of East Polynesian ceremonial sites – Cases from Rapa Nui and the Society Islands

Summary

Finds of Polynesian rat in the earliest dated cultural layer on Rapa Nui give evidence to that the initial settlers to the island came from the Polynesian area. However, recent research and dating of ceremonial sites by us in Rapa Nui and the Society Islands have indicated that the Rapa Nui monuments are at least 100 year earlier and more elaborated than the ones in the Society island. In this paper we discuss that various interactions, historical trajectories, and the arrival of the sweet potato to Rapa Nui are factors that intensified and elaborated of the building of ceremonial sites and made the Rapa Nui to focus on manufacturing of larger than life anthropomorphic statues

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Ceremonial architecture in Eastern Polynesia: Development & Variability

Keywords

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