Easter Island's population never collapsed, but it did have contact with Native Americans, DNA study suggests

[sinkingfeeling]

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/easter-islands-population-never-collapsed-but-it-did-have-contact-with-native-americans-dna-study-suggests

The remote Pacific island of Rapa Nui, commonly known as Easter Island, never experienced a "self-inflicted population collapse," a new analysis of ancient DNA reveals.

Researchers have long debated whether the Polynesian island's population plummeted due to deforestation, the overexploitation of local resources and warfare during the 1600s, before the arrival of Europeans a century later, according to a study published Wednesday (Sept. 11) in the journal Nature.

But now, after studying the genomes of 15 inhabitants of the Polynesian island, researchers think there was never a rapid drop in population after all.

DNA taken from these 15 historical individuals showed there was "no evidence of a genetic bottleneck" that would have signified a collapse in the 17th century. Instead, the DNA evidence revealed that the island's small population "steadily increased" until the 1860s, when Peruvian slave raids overtook the island and decreased the population by one-third, according to the study.

[John1956PA]

1. Thank you for your post.

I have been intrigued by the Island since I was in elementary school and learned about the Moai.

In high school, I learned about Thor Hyerdahl's Kon Tiki voyage.

What a wonderful subject, with so many details which may never be discovered.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I spent a week on Rapa Nui in the spring of 2016. The local guide kept saying that the

native population hadn't committed ecological suicide by cutting down all the trees like many claimed.

[kimbutgar]

2. I remember watching the movie Rapa Nui years ago and was fascinated by the origin the statues