Adaptive Failure: Easter’s End

Literal Comprehension

This essay is based on the research works done on Easter Island by different scholars.

The island lies in the Pacific Ocean. It has an area of only 64 square miles. It was discovered by the Dutch explorer called Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. His first impression was of a wasteland. It was the habitat of only 2000 people. The island was covered by grassland without a single tree. For domestic animals, they had only chickens. The islanders were totally isolated. They were unaware of other people’s existence.

According to the modern archaeological study on the island, earliest human civilization in the island started in 400 AD. It was first settled by Polynesians. During the early years of Polynesian settlement, Easter was not a wasteland at all. It was like a paradise. It had fertile soil, abundant food, plentiful building materials and all the prerequisites for comfortable living. It was full of subtropical forest of trees and woody bushes. The first settlers of the island ate the meat of porpoises, the seabirds, the land birds, rats and seals. Firewood was the only energy source of theirs for cooking food. Around 15th century, all the big trees finally became extinct due to deforestation. Along with the destruction of forest, seabirds and land birds, the islanders started to eat chickens. They also started eating humans.

After a few centuries, they began erecting stone statues on platforms. With passing years, the statues and platforms became larger and larger. On the island, society was held together by a complex political system to distribute locally available resources and to integrate the economies of different areas. Eventually Easter’s growing population was cutting the forest more rapidly than the forest was regenerating. The people used the land for gardens and the wood for fuel, canoes and houses. As forest disappeared, the islanders ran out of timber and rope to transport and erect their statues. Life became more comfortable.

People also found it harder to fill their stomachs. Preserved statues with sunken cheeks and visible ribs suggest that people were starving. With the disappearance of food surpluses, the island could no longer feed the chiefs, bureaucrats and priests who had kept a complex society running. Local chaos replaced centralized government and a warrior class took over from the hereditary chiefs. By around 1700, the population began to decrease dramatically. Rival clans toppled down the statues of each other. In this way, Easter’s civilization declined.

Interpretation

Through this essay, the writer warns the modern people about the potential risk of our civilization. He tells us to learn something from the fates of societies like Easter’s because if we did not learn from their mistakes, our condition would not be better than that of Polynesian settlers of Easter. Because of their overexploitation of nature, they had to suffer the disaster.

Edit the following sentences:

1. I know a old man like to play marbles.
   
   

Ans: I know an old man who likes to play.

2. At this point, I want to go home.
   
   

Ans:I want to go home now.

3. Miko however, hung back, but no one ever noticed.
   
   

Ans” Miako hung back, but no one noticed.

4. Jim asked Jerrf if he could leave
   
   

Ans: “Jerry,” asked Jim, “can I leave?”

5. The town, which I grew up in, only had one school.
   
   

Ans: I grew up in a  town which had only one school.