Again a clue was in the timing: the trees had disappeared at the very time statues had been abandoned and warfare had begun ... The cause of this great disaster had been the statues themselves ... Over the years the statues became more elaborate and also bigger and bigger ... It was as if statue-building had become a competitive obsession ... Obsession became mania. A craving that required more and more trees to satisfy it. But by now nothing could stop the frenzy of destruction. ibid.
If Easter Island had completely self-destructed, the Dutch should have encountered islanders who were desperate and starving. But they weren’t. They were fit and healthy with food to spare ... Something must have pulled Easter Island society back from disaster. ibid.
The aggression that had once led to fighting had been turned into a harmless competition that led to an orderly parcelling out of food. ibid.
The rise and fall of one of the most amazing civilisations on Earth is a story of epic human achievement intermixed with terrible folly. It is in other words the story of the whole of human history. ibid.
Easter Island is the world’s most remote inhabited island. Destination Truth s3e15, Skyfy 2010
The Mo’ai are said to be inhabited by the spirits of the dead island chiefs they represent. ibid.
A relentless wind blows across ancient volcanic rock sucking moisture and topsoil from the land ... The haunting beauty of this bleak and lonely landscape. Easter Island: Mysteries of a Lost World, Dr Jago Cooper, BBC 2014
One theory became dominant: eco-cide. ibid.
We need some sense of how long it took their culture to develop. ibid.
Not so clear what their function was. ibid.
Was there some kind of calamitous collapse? ibid.
A people at one with their landscape. ibid.
Some deforestation did occur ... Slash and burn clearance for agriculture. ibid.
Diseases that destroyed the basis of their society. ibid.
They resorted to kidnap – taking the islanders by force. ibid.
For over a thousand years Easter Island was home to a thriving civilisation until ecological disaster nearly wiped them out. Michael Arbuthnot, Secret Worlds, Easter Island, PBS 2015
What happened to all the trees? ibid.
On a remote island in the Pacific ocean a frightening and mysterious massacre took place: a race of stone giants carved thousands of years ago guard the shore in silence as if unable to endure what they have witnessed. The clues to the mystery remain locked behind mute lips: there is no voice to tell who carved the giants and why hundreds of them were destroyed in the Easter Island massacre. In Search of s1e17 … The Massacre of Easter Island, History 1977
At one time the population exceeded 10,000 … Less than 1,000 people live in the only village. ibid.