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About the AuthorJo Anne Van Tilburg
Jo Anne Van Tilburg, who holds a Ph.D. in archaeology from UCLA, is the Director of the Easter Island Statue Project and the world’s leading expert on Easter Island statues. She is the author of the “Easter Island” entry in the Encyclopedia of Prehistory published by the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University, and of Among Stone Giants: The Life of Katherine Routledge and her Remarkable Expedition to Easter Island (Scribner’s). A video biography of Jo Anne Van Tilburg, produced by Jerry Bowen, was presented on CBS Sunday Morning by Charles Osgood, 1996.
Convinced that the harmonious and ordered symmetry of the moai would reveal the secrets of their past, in 1982 Van Tilburg set out to document every detail of their size, shape, design and placement in the island landscape. Nearly 20 years later, her work has advanced our understanding of the structure of the Easter Island chiefdom and integrated the symbolism of the great statues into Easter Island’s history and ecology.
Working closely with Easter Island community leaders and artists, she has inventoried, described and catalogued 887 moai, producing a typological analysis and classification that is a significant aid to chronological studies.
In an effort to delineate the aesthetic context of Easter Island culture, she has conducted extensive archival and museum studies in the leading museums of the world, investigated archaeological sites in Hawai’i, the Marquesas Islands, the Society Islands, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere, and conducted intensive fieldwork on Oreor and Babeldaob in the Republic of Belau, Micronesia.
At the UCLA Rock Art Archive, Van Tilburg works with a staff of computer analysts and digital artists to preserve priceless documentation of ancient prehistoric rock art on archaeological sites in California, the Far West and the Pacific islands. California’s Governor Gray Davis recognized the importance of her work by presenting the Archive with the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation, 2001.
Dr. Van Tilburg has a strong commitment to public outreach. Her research has been described and she has appeared in educational programs created for BBC Horizon, PSB Nova, The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, History Channel (with Thor Heyerdahl) and Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World. In 1998 she completed an experimental archaeology project to make and move a replica statue on Easter Island. WGBH Boston produced a documentary film and web site describing this project for PBS NOVA.
She has served as guest curator or consultant for rock art or archaeology exhibitions by the US National Park Service, the Los Angeles Children’s Museum, Pasadena’s Pacific Asia Museum, the Bowers Museum of Cultural History, and the Japanese American Cultural Center, Los Angeles. As an outgrowth of her research into the life of Katherine Routledge, she created an exhibition of photographs from the Mana Expedition to Easter Island, 1914-15, sponsored by the British Museum.In 1989, Dr. Van Tilburg founded the Rapa Nui Outrigger Club (RNOC) as a sports club and integral part of Kahu Kahu O Hera, an association of artisans, elders and teachers on Easter Island. Working with fellow advisor Ted Ralston, the Mainland Council of the Association of Hawai’ian Civic Clubs, and The Mana Foundation, RNOC supports Kahu Kahu O Hera in adapting traditional Polynesian technology and expertise in outrigger canoe paddling to a recreation and sports program, creating an opportunity for cultural rediscovery.
Dr. Van Tilburg has been a yearly speaker for the Archaeological Institute of America since 1995. For ten years she has been Accompanying Expert for the British Museum Traveller program to Easter Island. In that capacity, she has lectured or conducted tours for Representatives of the U.S. Congress, NASA and other international dignitaries, including the President of Chile and His Majesty King Carlos of Spain. She is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Archaeological Institute of America, the Society for American Archaeology and the Pacific Arts Association. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1993.
Among Stone Giants:
The Life of Katherine Routledge and Her Remarkable Expedition to Easter Island
by Jo Anne Van Tilburg
Hardcover, 368 pages, with 16 pages of photographs
ISBN: 0-743-24480-XAvailable now Scribner!
Find it at your local bookseller or Order Here.
