Ten years ago my interest in the Pacific began unexpectedly. I had the chance to go on an archaeology excavation with a group from the University of Hawai’i Prehistory Project on Easter Island. I originally went as an archaeologist who had only done South American archaeology, and had no real knowledge about Pacific cultures. I just wanted to explore something as far away as possible!
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| Ahu Ahanga |
My first impressions of Easter Island were that it was so geographically different than I had expected. I was thinking it would be more tropical like Hawai’i, but in reality it was a much more sparse landscape with a much cooler climate. It was still one of the most beautiful places I’d ever seen.
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| View from Poike volcano |
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| A typical day of excavating and mapping |
As an archaeologist you tend to wake up before dawn so that you can hike out to a site for work, and by mid-afternoon you’ve already put in your eight hour day. This left plenty of time after the excavations to explore the main town of
Hanga Roa, and the (limited) nightlife.
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| Cultural show (that we attended about four times) |
At that time ten years ago, this mainly consisted of three bars- only one of which tourists frequented. Although archaeologists are known for their partying (sorta), and after a month I think most of us were bored of this and used most of our energy to explore the other wonders of the island.
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| View from the cave |
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| Tangata manu (birdman) cave paintings in 'Cannibal Cave' |
Finding the tangata manu (birdman) cave paintings in the ‘
Cannibal Cave’ and exploring the stories of the island are what first sparked my interests in the cultural history of the Easter Island people, and shifted my interests more towards anthropology. There were so many questions I had for the descendants of these populations, and it didn’t hurt that the Pacific is absolutely gorgeous.
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| Downtime at Anakena Beach |
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| Ahu Tongariki from afar |
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