A recently-published study challenges the popular myth that Easter Islanders' ancient rock gardening practices caused their own downfall. The journal article, which is titled "Island-wide ...

You can get in touch with Robyn by emailing [email protected] An analysis of the ... help rock gardens stand out more distinctly from the surrounding terrain. Based on the revised garden ...

When British explorer James Cook arrived at Rapa Nui — known to him as Easter Island — in ... 180 acres—or 0.4 percent of the island—was used for rock gardening. This would have supported ...

Easter Island never had a catastrophic population ... Van Tilburg said. Even taking the rock-garden data on its own does not necessarily lead to Lipo and colleagues' conclusions, Van Tilburg ...

Robert DiNapoli, co-author of a new study about population dynamics on Rapa Nui, stands in front of a rock garden on the ... of the Pacific island Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, experienced a steep ...

The volcanic soil on Easter Island is highly weathered and ... There had been only one 2013 study aimed at determining the island's rock-garden capacity, which relied on near-infrared bands ...

Narrator] Most visitors come all the way to Easter Island because of these stone statues ... Cut from volcanic rock, some are more than 30 feet high. Over time, all of the moai have fallen ...

Hundreds of monumental stone heads dot the coastline of the remote Pacific island of Rapa Nui ... 1 square kilometer (0.4 square mile), and rock garden cultivation alone would only have supported ...

HANGA ROA, Easter Island, Dec 6 (Reuters ... these large-headed statues were carved directly from rock quarries and spread across the island. The statues, modeled after deified islanders ...