Survival of Easter Island - Dwindling Resources and Cultural Resilience

Jan J. Boersema reconstructs the ecological and cultural history of Easter Island and critiques the hitherto accepted theory of its collapse.

List of contents

1. Easter Island as an icon; 2. From the east or the west?; 3. The green past; 4. Culture appears, nature disappears; 5. Makemake, moai, and the tangata manu; 6. Resilience and sustainability; 7. Foreigners; 8. Christianization, sheep breeding, and research; 9. The earth and Easter Island: doom and destiny.

About the author

Jan J. Boersema is Professor of Principles of Environmental Sciences at Leiden University. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Integrated Environmental Sciences and editor of the textbook Principles of Environmental Sciences (2009, with Lucas Reijnders).

Summary

In this book, Jan J. Boersema reconstructs the ecological and cultural history of Easter Island and critiques the hitherto accepted theory of its collapse. Drawing on historical and scientific evidence, Boersema demonstrates how Easter Island society responded to cultural and environmental change and how it was able to survive.

Product details

• Authors: Jan J Boersema, Jan J. Boersema, Jan J. (Universiteit Leiden) Boersema, Boersema Jan J.
• Assisted by: Diane Webb (Translation), Webb Diane (Translation)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 13.04.2015
• EAN: 9781107027701
• ISBN: 978-1-107-02770-1
• No. of pages: 308
• Subjects: Education and learning > Adult education/adult education classes; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, Environmental Management, Archaeology by period / region, Deforestation, Easter Island, Australasian and Pacific history