"Collapse of Easter Island"

The reading lists three theories to explain the collapse of the civilization on Easter Island, but the lecture points out flaws in all three theories presented in the reading. The lecturer concedes that palm trees were cleared for agricultural purposes, cooking, the construction of homes and canoes, as well as the transportation of ahu. Nevertheless, the lecturer explains that the islanders replaced the palm trees with grass, which would have prevented erosion and would have allowed for an agricultural base that could have supported the population. Although rats may have eaten many of the young trees, preventing their regrowth, the lecturer maintains that the rats could have been used as a food source for the islanders. In fact, rat bones found in garbage dumps provide evidence that the islanders were eating rats. In other words, they replaced plants with protein in their diet. It is documented that a war occurred between the short-eared and long-eared people on the island, killing many of the islanders on both sides; however, the lecturer presents historical records substantiating that the war was fought in about 1770, which would have been 100 years after the islanders' traditional stories of the war. The difference in the dates brings the entire theory into question. Therefore, none of the three theories accounts for the collapse of the advanced culture that once thrived on Easter Island. What happened is still a mystery