Lab 02 Rapa Nui Mystery

Lab 02 Rapa Nui Mystery

Rapa Nui Mystery handout (complete in class)

1.  What is the nearest island to the northwest of Rapa Nui, 1400 miles away?

2.  Why weren’t the same kind of bones found in each of the layers?

3.  What do the different layers of bones indicate?

4.  Dolphins are plentiful around the island and they may have been a source of food for the islanders.*What could have caused the people to stop harvesting dolphins?

5.  Why did the people change from using obsidian material for tools, to using it for weapons? What does this tell us?

6.  a. What were the results of the pollen analysis? What does this information suggest happened to the forest in this part of the island? Why? b. Why were forests growing prior to A.D.750, but nearly gone after A.D.1400 in Rano Kau? What might have happened?

7.  How would you describe the physical appearance of the moai kavakava? Do you think this provides any clue to what was happening to the people of Rapa Nui? Why?

8.  What do you think happened to the toppled over moai and to the white coral eyes of the moai? Why did it happen? What do you think was so significant about the eyes?

9.  What does the legend about the old woman tell you about the people during this period?

10. How could the people have moved the huge stone statues from the stone quarry to the coast? Could the transportation of the moai have anything to do with the depletion of their forest? How?

11. Why were the islanders who greeted Dutch Admiral Jacob Roggeveen in 1722 having to bail out their canoes?

12. Could the leaky canoes be related to the fact that there were no dolphin bones in the middle and upper layers of the archaeological dig?

13. What do most of the ships' logs tell us about finding foods or other resources on Rapa Nui?

14. What does Cook’s description of the islanders tell you was happening to the population?