This is a collection of studies, that survey the latest research into Easter Island's natural, environmental and cultural history. It has sections on natural history, history of settlement, archaeology, traditions, language and scripts, the arts and post-contact change.
Natural History: Geological Parameters (S R Fischer & C M Love), Present
flora and its origins (J R Flenley), Marine fauna (L H DiSaivo & J E
Randall), Terrestrial fauna (K Klemmer & G Zizka), Palaeoecology of Easter
Island and its ecological disaster (I R Flenley), Flora: needs and
possibilities of conservation (G Zizka). History of Settlement: human
settlement (P G Bahn), Human osteology (G W Gill & D W Owsley), The naming of
Rapanui (S R rischer), Bibliography in the Archives of the Fathers of the
Sacred Hearts (A Mark). Archaeology: Rapanui Archaeology up to 1956 (P G
Bahn), The Norwegian expedition (C S Smith), Monolithic sculptures (P G
Bahn), Survey of the Moai (W Liller), Dating of Monolithic Sculpture (A
Skjolsvold), Soil temperature and relative humidity in obsidian dating (C M
Stevenson, I Friedman & J Miles), Easter Island Abu revisited (C M Love),
Rock art (G Lee), Monuments in the archaeoastronomy of Rapanui (W Liller),
Preservation of the archaeological heritage (A E Cbarola and CA Weber).
Traditions: The Pantheon (A Bierbach & H Cain), Concept of Akuaku (O Blixen),
Myths and legends is reflexions of shamanistic beliefs (I K Feddorova), The
Tangata Manu (H-M Esen-Baur), Traditional foods (NJ Pollock), Medical arts (R
Campbell). Language and Scripts: Rapanui language (V M du Teu & S R Fischer),
Post contact change in Rapanui language (WI W Scbumacber), Modern language (S
M du Feu), Classical Rapanui script (T S Barthel), Inscribed artefacts in
three Rapanui scripts (S R Fischer), Tablets (F Dederenen & S R Fischer). The
Arts: Performing arts (R Campbell), Wooden sculptures (J Seaver), Types of
wood used in carving (C Orlinc), Personal and group symbols in wood sculpture
(F Torment), Symbolism (A MA Arredondo). Post contact change: Modernisation
of Rapanui J D Porteous).
