Attenborough: Easter Island

KEY

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH ON EASTER ISLAND
1. When did the first Polynesian arrive on Easter Island?
1500 years ago
2. What did the palm trees provide the Polynesian colonists with? What did this enable them to do?
Timber (wood). To build canoes and fish
3. When did they start building huge statuary?
In the 10th century
4. What remains can be seen at the top of the 1000-foot high cliff?
50 odd stone houses that were once a great ritual centre
5. Why were the frigate birds considered mysterious and sacred?
Because the islanders never saw them come down from the skies. They never nested on the island and they got their food by stealing it from other birds in the air.
6. What can be found among the carvings of supernatural birds?
A staring mask with goggling eyes which the islanders say it represents the creator spirit Maki Maki
7. What lies offshore from Morongo?
Three small rocky islets
8. What did the arrival of the birds symbolize?
The renewal of fertility
9. What did the great man who had been presented with the egg do in the year following the race?
He lived in seclusion, fed by an attendant. He didn’t cut his hair or nails.
10. Who was this great man the representative of?
Of Maki Maki, the great creator god. The god of fertility.
11. Where was he buried? What was put up in his memory?
On a platform in his clan’s territory and a stone figure was put up in his memory to stand alongside those of his predecessors.
12. Why did the islanders cut down the forests that covered the island?
Because the numbers of people grew. In order to make fields and grow crops
13. What happened once they had cut down the last tree?
They lost the timber (wood) to make ocean going canoes. They were marooned on their island
14. Why did war break out among clans?
Because they were faced with starvation.