2002-2005
Field Report
Introduction
Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) and Rano Raraku
Nature of the Work
EISP History: The Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) is an archaeological survey and inventory designed to locate, document and classify every monolithic and portable stone sculpture in archaeological context on Rapa Nui. It was begun in 1982 by Jo Anne Van Tilburg as her pre-dissertation fieldwork, and was conducted in cooperation with the Universidad de Chile. Work continued as independent post-dissertation museum and archive research, and independent fieldwork was re-established in 1989. In that year Cristián Arévalo Pakarati joined the project as field assistant. He was promoted to graphic designer in 1992 and, in 2002, to Project Co-Director. Interim reports of all field work conducted are on file at UCLA and with the Universidad de Chile (see attached bibliography).
Archive and Museum Results: To date, 21 monolithic statues or fragments of statues have been documented in museum collections in 7 countries of the world. Objects that are directly related to statue aesthetics, including portable figures, have been documented at the Smithsonian Institution, the Peabody Museum (Harvard) and the British Museum. Unpublished fieldnotes and other documents of the Mana Expedition to Easter Island (1914, Royal Geographical Society); H.M.S. Topaze expedition (1868, British Museum); and U.S.S. Mohican expedition (1886, Smithsonian Institution), and historical voyages (Natural History Museum, Santiago de Chile) have been researched.
Fieldwork Results: All fieldwork has been accomplished under my personal direction and has, to date, yielded records on 883 monolithic statues and 40 portable statues on 4 of 10 known site types. These records are stored in digital format in computer interactive files at my research unit (UCLA Rock Art Archive).
Purpose: The purpose of the Statue Project is to amass large quantities of objective data in standardized ways, creating a body of information which, when analyzed, enables the recognition of patterns illustrating shared cultural norms that will allow for outlining and defining the prehistoric social system.
EISP Research Hypotheses:
a. Morphological and stylistic statue design attributes are capable of description, analysis and classification;
b. Morphological style of monolithic sculpture will relate to ceremonial architecture (ahu) construction type;
c. Statue style sequence will relate to ceremonial architecture chronology;
d. The greatest number of statues will be located in relation to the largest and most important lineage centers, and specific morphological and stylistic attributes will be associated with the statues on these centers;
e. Statue type with relate to architectural phase, establishing a site-specific
chronological sequence;f. Chronological sequences will have validity for all sites within type categories;
g. The typical chiefdom may be defined in terms of statue style, territory, population and resource use.
Research Value of the Work
The value of the Rapa Nui Statue Project is that it supports reconstruction
of the prehistoric Rapa Nui human population as a component of ecological, political
and esoteric systems. It combines analytical tools with social theory to contribute
a unique perspective on island change. It facilitates the semiotic analysis
of prehistoric Polynesian spatial organization. It is complementary to other
ecological, geographic, economic and social analyses in Pacific Studies, and
integrates Rapa Nui into the larger and better understood East Polynesian interaction
sphere. Finally, it provides insight into the long-term development of human
systems, allowing visualization of historical and ecological linkages of the
past with the present and future.
Conservation Value of the
Work
The Rapa Nui Statue Project is the world’s largest and most fully detailed
archive of moai descriptive data. It spans a time frame of 20 years
and includes over10, 000 visual images; 4,000 graphic images; 46,000 metrics
and hundreds of pages of fieldnotes and maps. All data are filed on CD-ROM and
stored in archival conditions. Comparative analyses illustrate that all moai
have been subjected to environmental damage. All restoration, conservation or
reconstruction of moai requires or depends upon these data.
Rano Raraku Research
The first modern mapping in Rano Raraku produced a plan and incomplete diagrammatic
sketches of the exterior southeast face and interior (Routledge 1919). Later
mapping produced diagrammatic sketches (Skjölsvold 1961: Fig. 89). The
most complete map to date documents quarries, standing and fallen moai
on the exterior (Cristino et al. 1981). In the interior quarries, standing and
fallen moai have been localized (ibid.) but not fully documented (Van
Tilburg 1986, 1994). Our work will accomplish complete statue and feature documentation
in Sections C and D, interior quarries; map the interior fully, and secure photogrammetric
data on selected statues.
Field
Methods
All methods are non-invasive.
No excavations will be conducted during this phase of the work.
a. digital photography, computer filing and analysis;
b. digital mapping;
c. measurements and photogrammetric documentation;
d. sketches and drawings;
e. fieldnotes.
Separate Field Season Reports:
2002 July-August
2002 October-November
2003
2004
© Easter Island Statue Project/Jo Anne Van Tilburg. All rights reserved.