The Destruction Of The Eastern Island Civilisation

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When the first Europeans arrived on Easter Island, an island with very few recourses and no trees, and a society in a primitive state, having to practice cannibalism and engaged in continuous warfare was found. The statement claiming that the Europeans were the cause of the destruction of the Easter Island civilisation is not valid. The civilisation destroyed itself. When the Europeans arrived on Easter Island, the society was already in horrid shape. It was obvious to anthropologists that this barbarian people could not have been the ones behind the gorgeous statues standing on the island. There used to be a magnificent civilisation flourishing on the island, but it had been destroyed. Not by Europeans but by itself. The Europeans found a completely treeless place when they first came to Easter Island. Scientific work, however, has proven that the island originally had a dense vegetation cover including extensive woods. Needing to move the giant stone statues by dragging them across the island using tree trunks as rollers, the Easter Islanders had to cut down massive amounts of trees. Rivalry between different clans made them build as many statues as possible, which meant excessive waste of timber. This was the biggest reason for the complete deforestation on the island, which led to the rapid fall of the civilisation. Trees used to be cut down to provide clearings for agriculture, fuel for heating and cooking, construction material, houses and canoes and to move the statues. None of that could be done anymore. Before the deforestation, the islanders were able to make long voyages on water using canoes built of wood. With no trees, this could not be done, which meant that there was no way out of the island, they were trapped to deal with their problems themselves, to the point in which they had to resort to cannibalism and suffer from extremely poor

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