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{{Merge|Sahelanthropus|date=August 2008}}
{{redirect|Rapa Nui}}
<sub></sub>{{Taxobox
{{Infobox Country
| name = ''Sahelanthropus tchadensis''<br/>"Toumaï"
|native_name = Rapa Nui
| fossil_range = [[Late Miocene]]
|conventional_long_name = ''Easter Island<br/>Isla de Pascua''
| image = SahelanthropustchadensisZICA.png
|common_name = Easter Island
| image_width = 230 px
|image_flag = Flag of Rapa Nui, Chile.svg
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
|image_coat = <!--* e.g. Coat of arms of country.svg-->
| phylum = [[Chordata]]
|symbol_type = [[Rei-Miro]]
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia
|national_motto =
| ordo = [[Primate]]s
|national_anthem = <!--''[name of/link to anthem]''-->
| familia = [[Hominidae]]
|other_symbol_type = <!--Another symbol, e.g. Hymn-->
| subfamilia = [[Homininae]]
|other_symbol = <!--another symbol text-->
| tribus = [[Hominini]]
|image_map = Easter Island map-en.svg
| subtribus = [[Hominina]]
|map_caption = Easter Island map showing [[Terevaka]], [[Poike]], [[Rano Kau]], [[Motu Nui]], [[Orongo]], and [[Mataveri International Airport|Mataveri]]; major Ahus are marked with [[Moai]]
| genus = '''†''Sahelanthropus'''''
|image_map2 = <!--Another map, if required-->
| genus_authority = Brunet ''et al'', [[2002]]<ref>Usually, all authors of a [[taxon]] description are cited. In this case they are so many however that for layout reasons the list is abbreviated. The full citation is:<br/>Brunet, Guy, Pilbeam, Mackaye, Likius, Ahounta, Beauvilain, Blondel, Bocherens, Boisserie, De Bonis, Coppens, Dejax, Denys, Duringer, Eisenmann, Fanone, Fronty, Geraads, Lehmann, Lihoreau, Louchart, Mahamat, Merceron, Mouchelin, Otero, Pelaez Campomanes, Ponce de León, Rage, Sapanet, Schuster, Sudre, Tassy, Valentin, Vignaud, Viriot, Zazzo, & Zollikofer, 2002.</ref>
|map_caption2 = <!--Caption to place below second map-->
| species = '''''S. tchadensis'''''
|capital = [[Hanga Roa]]
| binomial = †''Sahelanthropus tchadensis''
|latd=27 |latm=9 |latNS=S |longd=109 |longm=25.5 |longEW=W <!--capital's latitude and longitude-->
| binomial_authority = Brunet ''et al'', 2002
|official_languages = [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Rapa Nui language|Rapa Nui]]
|ethnic_groups = [[Rapanui]] 60%, Chilean 39%, Amerindian 1%
|ethnic_groups_year = 2002
|demonym = [[Rapa Nui]] or Pascuense
|government_type = Special territory of Chile<ref>Pending the enactment of a special charter, the island will continue to be governed as a province of the Valparaíso Region.</ref>
|leader_title1 = Provincial governor
|leader_name1 = [[Melania Carolina Hotu Hey]] (2006-)
|leader_title2 = [[Mayor]]
|leader_name2 = [[Pedro Pablo Edmunds Paoa]]
|sovereignty_type = [[Annexation]]
|sovereignty_note = to [[Chile]]
|established_event1 = Treaty signed
|established_date1 = September 9, 1888
|established_event2 =
|established_date2 =
|area_rank =
|area_magnitude = 1 E8
|area_km2 = 163.6
|area_sq_mi = 63.1
|percent_water =
|population_estimate =
|population_estimate_rank =
|population_estimate_year =
|population_census = 3,791
|population_census_year = 2002
|population_density_km2 = 23.17
|population_density_sq_mi = 60.08
|population_density_rank =
|GDP_PPP =
|GDP_PPP_rank =
|GDP_PPP_year =
|GDP_PPP_per_capita =
|GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank =
|GDP_nominal =
|GDP_nominal_rank =
|GDP_nominal_year =
|GDP_nominal_per_capita =
|GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank =
|Gini =
|Gini_rank =
|Gini_year =
|Gini_category =
|HDI =
|HDI_rank =
|HDI_year =
|HDI_category =
|currency =
|currency_code =
|time_zone = [[North American Central Time Zone|Central Time Zone]]
|utc_offset = -6<!-- +N, where N is number of hours -->
|time_zone_DST =
|DST_note =
|utc_offset_DST = <!-- +N, where N is number of hours -->
|cctld =
|calling_code = 56 32
|image_map3 =
|footnotes = <!--for any generic non-numbered footnotes-->
|footnote1 =
|footnote2 =
}}
}}
'''Easter Island''' ({{lang-rap|'''Rapa Nui'''}}, {{lang-es|'''Isla de Pascua'''}}) is a [[Polynesian]] island in the southeastern [[Pacific Ocean]], at the southeasternmost point of the [[Polynesian triangle]]. The island is a special territory of [[Chile]]. Easter Island is famous for its monumental statues, called ''[[moai]]'' ({{IPAEng|ˈmoʊ.аɪ}}), created by the [[Rapanui]] people. It is a [[world heritage site]] with much of the island protected within the [[Rapa Nui National Park]].


'''''Sahelanthropus tchadensis''''' is a [[fossil]] [[ape]] that lived approximately 7-6 [[million years ago]]. It is sometimes claimed as the oldest known ancestor of ''[[Homo (genus)|Homo]]'' ([[human]]s) post-dating the [[most recent common ancestor]] of humans and [[chimpanzee]]s. It was a species of [[Miocene]] ape, related to humans and the living African apes.
==Name==
The name "Easter Island" was given by the island's first recorded European visitor, the [[Dutch people|Dutch]] explorer [[Jacob Roggeveen]], who encountered Easter Island on [[Easter Sunday]] 1722, while searching for [[Edward Davis|Davis or David's island]].<ref name=jrjournal>An English translation of the originally Dutch journal by Jacob Roggeveen, with additional significant information from the log by Cornelis Bouwman, was published in: Andrew Sharp (ed.), The Journal of Jacob Roggeveen (Oxford 1970).</ref> The island's official Spanish name, ''Isla de Pascua,'' is [[Spanish language|Spanish]] for "Easter Island".


== Fossils ==
The current Polynesian name of the island, "Rapa Nui" or "Big Rapa", was coined by labor immigrants from [[Rapa Iti|Rapa]] in the [[Bass Islands (French Polynesia)|Bass Islands]], who likened it to their home island in the aftermath of the Peruvian slave deportations in the 1870s.<ref>[http://www.rongorongo.org/thomson/453.html Invention of the name "Rapa Nui"]</ref> However, [[Thor Heyerdahl]] has claimed that the naming would have been the opposite, ''Rapa'' being the original name of Easter Island, and ''Rapa Iti'' was named by its refugees.<ref>Heyerdahl claimed that the two islands would be about the same size, meaning that "big" and "small" would not be physical, but historical attributes, "big" indicating the original. In reality, however, Easter Island is more than four times bigger than Rapa Iti. Heyerdahl also claimed that there is an island called "Rapa" in [[Lake Titicaca]] in South America, but so far there is no map available showing an island of that name in the lake.</ref>
[[Image:Djourab, Chad ; Sahelanthropus tchadensis 2001 discovery map.png|thumb|left|Location of discovery]]
[[Image:Sahelanthropus tchadensis - TM 266 location.jpg|thumb|left|Detail]]
Existing fossils &ndash; a relatively small [[cranium]] nicknamed '''Toumaï''' ("hope of life" in the local [[Dazaga language|Goran language]] of Chad), five pieces of [[jaw]] and some [[teeth]] &ndash; make up a head that has a mixture of derived and primitive features. The braincase, being only of 340&nbsp;[[cubic centimetre|cm³]] to 360&nbsp;cm³ in volume is similar to that of extant chimpanzees and is notably less than the approximate human volume of 1350&nbsp;cm³.
The teeth, brow ridges, and facial structure differ markedly from those found in ''[[Homo sapiens]]''. Due to the distortion that the cranium has suffered, a 3D computer reconstruction has not been produced. Since no postcranial remains (bones below the skull) have been discovered, it is as of yet unknown whether ''Sahelanthropus tchadensis'' was indeed bipedal, although claims for an anteriorly placed [[foramen magnum]] suggests that this may have been the case, although some paleontologists have disputed this interpretation of the basicranium. Its canine wear is similar to other Miocene apes.<ref name = brunetetal0205>Brunet ''et al.'' (2002, 2005)</ref>


The fossils were discovered in the [[Djurab]] desert of [[Chad]] by a team of four; three Chadians, Adoum Mahamat and Djimdoumalbaye Ahounta (who found the skull{{Verify source|date=August 2008}}<!-- only the skull is known - what piece did they find? --> on [[July 19]], [[2001]]) and Gongdibé Fanone, and the French team leader Alain Beauvilain. All known material of ''Sahelanthropus'' were found between July 2001 to March 2002 at three sites (TM 247, TM 266 which yielded most of the material, and TM 292). The discoverers claimed that ''S. tchadensis'' is the oldest known human ancestor after the split of the human line from that of [[chimpanzee]]s. The bones were found far from most previous [[hominin]] fossil finds, which are from [[Eastern Africa|Eastern]] and [[Southern Africa]]. However, an ''[[Australopithecus bahrelghazali]]'' mandible was found in Chad by the ''Sahelanthropus''' discoverers as early as [[1993]].<ref name = brunetetal0205 />
There are several hypotheses about the "original" Polynesian name for Easter Island, including ''Te pito o te henua'', or "The Navel of the World" due to its isolation. Legends claim that the island was first named as ''Te pito o te kainga a Hau Maka'', or the "Little piece of land of Hau Maka".<ref>Thomas S. Barthel: The Eighth Land: The Polynesian Settlement of Easter Island (Honolulu: University of Hawaii 1978; originally published in German in 1974)</ref> Another name, ''Mata-ki-Te-rangi,'' means "Eyes that talk to the sky."<ref>[http://www.ine.cl/canales/publicaciones/compendio_estadistico/pdf/2005/2.pdf Compendio Estadístico 2005], INE.</ref>


==Relationship to modern humans and great apes==
==Location and physical geography==
''Sahelanthropus'' may represent a [[common descent|common ancestor]] of humans and chimpanzees; most [[molecular clock]]s suggest humans and chimps diverged 1&ndash;2 million years after ''S. tchadensis'' (5 [[mya (unit)|mya]]) but there is now general acceptance among paleontologists and molecular biologists that such a late divergence is no longer tenable. The original placement of this species as a human ancestor but not a chimpanzee ancestor would complicate the picture of human [[phylogeny]]. In particular, if Toumaï is a direct human ancestor, then its facial features bring the status of ''[[Australopithecus]]'' into doubt because its thickened brow ridges were reported to be similar to those of some later fossil hominids (notably Homo erectus), whereas this morphology differs from that observed in all australopithecines, most fossil hominids and extant humans.
[[Image:Orthographic projection centred over Easter Island.png|right|thumb|Orthographic projection centered on Easter Island.]] [[Image:Easter island and south america.jpg|left|thumb|Easter Island, [[Sala y Gómez]], [[South America]] and the islands in between]]


Another possibility is that Toumaï is related to both humans and chimpanzees, but is the ancestor of neither. Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford, the discoverers of ''[[Orrorin tugenensis]]'', suggested that the features of ''S. tchadensis'' are consistent with a female proto-[[gorilla]]. Even if this claim is upheld, then the find would lose none of its significance, for at present precious few chimpanzee or gorilla ancestors have been found anywhere in Africa. Thus if ''S. tchadensis'' is an ancestral relative of the chimpanzees (or gorillas) then it represents the first known member of ''their'' lineage. Furthermore, ''S. tchadensis'' does indicate that the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees is unlikely to resemble chimpanzees very much, as had been previously supposed by some paleontologists.<ref>Guy ''et al.'' (2005), Wolpoff ''et al.'' (2006)</ref>
Easter Island is one of the world's most isolated inhabited islands. It is 3,600&nbsp;km (2,237&nbsp;mi) west of continental Chile and 2,075&nbsp;km (1,290&nbsp;mi) east of [[Pitcairn Islands|Pitcairn]] ([[Sala y Gómez]], 415 kilometres to the east, is closer but uninhabited).


Unfortunately, the exact age of the fossil is somewhat hard to determine. While molecular clocks are increasingly found to be far more unreliable than initially believed, [[sediment]] [[isotope analysis]] which yielded an age of about 7 million years is generally considered quite reliable. In this case however, the fossils were found partially exposed in loose sand; co-discoverer Beauvilain cautions that such sediment can be easily moved by the wind, unlike packed earth. The sediment surrounding the fossils might thus not be the material the bones were originally deposited in, making it necessary to corroborate the fossil's age by some other means. The [[fauna]] found at the site &ndash; namely the [[anthracotheriid]] ''[[Libycosaurus|Libycosaurus petrochii]]'' and the [[Suidae|suid]] ''[[Nyanzachoerus|Nyanzachoerus syrticus]]'' &ndash; suggests an age of more than 6 million years, as these [[species]] were probably [[extinct]] already by that time.<ref>Brunet ''et al.'' (2005), Beauvilain (2008)</ref>
It has a latitude close to that of [[Caldera, Chile]], an area of 163.6&nbsp;km² (63&nbsp;sq&nbsp;mi), and a maximum altitude of 507 metres. There are three ''Rano'' (freshwater [[crater lake]]s), at [[Rano Kau]], [[Rano Raraku]] and Rano Aroi, near the summit of Terevaka, but no permanent streams or rivers.


==Geology==
== See also ==
* [[Human evolution]]
Easter Island is a volcanic [[high island]], consisting mainly of three extinct volcanoes: [[Terevaka]] (altitude 507 metres) forms the bulk of the island. Two other volcanoes, [[Poike]] and [[Rano Kau]], form the eastern and southern headlands and give the island its approximately triangular shape. There are numerous lesser cones and other volcanic features, including the crater [[Rano Raraku]], the [[cinder cone]] [[Puna Pau]] and many volcanic caves including [[lava tubes]].
Easter Island and surrounding islets such as [[Motu Nui]], [[Motu Iti (Rapa Nui)|Motu Iti]] are the summit of a large volcanic mountain which rises over two thousand metres from the sea bed. It is part of the Sala y Gómez Ridge, a (mostly submarine) mountain range with dozens of [[seamount]]s starting with [[Pukao (Seamount)|Pukao]] and then [[Moai (seamount)|Moai]], two seamounts to the west of Easter Island, and extending {{convert|2700|km|mi|abbr=on}} east to the [[Nazca Seamount]].<ref>[http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/petroj/online/Volume_38/Issue_06/html/ega038_gml.html#hd1 Inst of Petrology Vol 38 Haase, Stoffers & Garbe-Schoneberg]</ref>
Pukao, Moai and Easter Island were formed in the last 750,000 years, with the most recent eruption a little over a hundred thousand years ago. They are the youngest mountains of the Sala y Gómez Ridge, which has been formed by the [[Nazca Plate]] floating over the [[Easter hotspot]].<ref>[http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/petroj/online/Volume_38/Issue_06/html/ega038_gml.html#hd15 Inst of Petrology Vol 38 The Petrogenetic Evolution of Lavas from Easter Island and Neighbouring Seamounts, Near-ridge Hotspot Volcanoes in the SE Pacific - Haase, Stoffers & Garbe-Schoneberg]</ref>
Only at Easter Island, its surrounding islets and [[Sala y Gómez]] does the Sala y Gómez Ridge form dry land.


==Footnotes==
In the first half of the 20th century, steam came out of the Rano Kau crater wall. This was photographed by the island's manager, Mr Edmunds.[http://libweb.hawaii.edu/digicoll/rapanui/Box13E01.html]
{{Reflist}}

==History==
{{Infobox World Heritage Site
| WHS = [[Rapa Nui National Park]]
| Image = [[Image:Moai Rano raraku.jpg|200px|[[Moai]] at [[Rano Raraku]], Easter Island]]
| State Party = {{flag|Chile}}
| Type = Cultural
| Criteria = i, iii, v
| ID = 715
| Region = Oceanic Continent
| Year = 1995
| Session = 19th
| Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/715
}}

{{Main|History of Easter Island}}
The history of Easter Island is rich and controversial. Its inhabitants have endured [[famine]]s, [[epidemic]]s, [[civil war]], [[slavery|slave]] raids and [[colonialism]], and the crash of their ecosystem; their population has declined precipitously more than once. They have left a cultural legacy that has brought them fame out of all proportion to their numbers.

Contemporary to the arrival of the first settlers of [[Hawaii]], 300-400 [[Common Era|CE]] was published as a date for initial settlement of Easter Island. Although some scholars argue for initial settlement of 700-800 CE, there is an on-going study by archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo that states: “Radiocarbon dates for the earliest stratigraphic layers at [[Anakena]], Easter Island, and analysis of previous radiocarbon dates imply that the island was colonized late, about 1200 CE. Significant ecological impacts and major cultural investments in monumental architecture and statuary thus began soon after initial settlement.”<ref name="fifteen"> Hunt, T. L., Lipo, C. P., 2006. Science, 1121879. URL “Late Colonization of Easter Island” </ref>

[[Image:AhuTongariki.JPG|thumb|left|[[Ahu Tongariki]] near [[Rano Raraku]], a 15-[[Moai]] Ahu excavated and restored in the 1990s]]

According to legends recorded by the missionaries in the 1860s, the island originally had a very clear class system, with an ''ariki'', king, wielding absolute god-like power ever since Hotu Matua had arrived on the island. The most visible element in the culture was production of massive [[moai]] that were part of the ancestral worship. With a strictly unified appearance, moai were erected along most of the coastline, indicating a homogeneous culture and centralized governance.

[[Image:Rano-Kau-2b-Birdman-Cult.JPG|thumb|left|150px|[[Motu Nui]] islet, part of the Birdman Cult ceremony]]
For unknown reasons, a coup by military leaders called ''matatoa'' had brought a new cult based around a previously unexceptional god [[Makemake (mythology)|Makemake]]. The cult of the birdman (Rapanui: ''[[tangata manu]]'') was largely to blame for the island's misery of the late 18th and 19th centuries. With the island's ecosystem fading, destruction of crops quickly resulted in famine, sickness and death.

European accounts from 1722 and 1770 still saw only standing statues, but by Cook's visit in 1774 many were reported toppled. The ''huri mo'ai'' - the "statue-toppling" - continued into the 1830s as a part of fierce [[wikt:internecine|internecine]] wars. By 1838 the only standing [[Moai]] were on the slopes of [[Rano Raraku]] and [[Hoa Hakananai'a]] at [[Orongo]].

The first recorded European contact with the island was on April 5 ([[Easter|Easter Sunday]]) 1722 when [[Netherlands|Dutch]] navigator [[Jacob Roggeveen]] visited for a week and estimated there were 2,000 to 3,000 inhabitants on the island. The next foreign visitors (on November 15, 1770) were two Spanish ships, ''San Lorenzo'' and ''Santa Rosalia''. They reported the island as largely uncultivated, with a seashore lined with stone statues. Four years later, in 1774, British explorer [[James Cook]] visited Easter Island, he reported the statues as being neglected with some having fallen down. In 1825, the British ship, HMS Blossom, visited and reported no standing statues. Easter Island was approached many times during the 19th century, but by now the islanders had become openly hostile towards any attempt to land, and very little new information was reported before the 1860s.

A series of devastating events killed almost the entire population of Easter Island in the 1860s. In December 1862, [[Peru]]vian slave raiders struck Easter Island. Violent abductions continued for several months, eventually capturing or killing around 1500 men and women, about half of the island's population. A dozen islanders managed to return from the horrors of Peru, but brought with them smallpox and started an epidemic, which decimated the island's population to the point where some of the dead were not even buried. Contributing to the chaos were violent clan wars with the remaining people fighting over the newly available lands of the deceased, bringing further famine and death among the dwindling population. The first Christian missionary, [[Eugène Eyraud]], brought tuberculosis to the island in 1867 which took a quarter of the island's remaining population of 1,200.

[[Jean-Baptiste Dutrou-Bornier]] bought up all of the island apart from the missionaries' area around [[Hanga Roa]] and moved a couple of hundred Rapanui to [[Tahiti]] to work for his backers. In 1871 the missionaries, having fallen out with Dutrou-Bornier, evacuated all but 171 Rapanui to the [[Gambier islands]]<ref>[[Katherine Routledge]] The mystery of Easter island page 208</ref> . Those who remained were mostly older men. Six years later, there were just 111 people living on Easter Island, and only 36 of them had any offspring.<ref>[http://www.rongorongo.org/cooke/712.html Collapse of island's demographics in the 1860s and 1870s]</ref>
[[Image:APinart.jpg|thumb|"Queen Mother" Koreto with her daughters "Queen" Caroline and Harriette in 1877]]
From that point on and into the present day, the island's population slowly recovered. But with over 97% of the population dead or having left in less than a decade, much of the island's cultural knowledge had been lost.

Easter Island was annexed by Chile on September 9, 1888, by [[Policarpo Toro]], by means of the "[[Treaty of Annexation of the island]]" (Tratado de Anexión de la isla), that the government of Chile signed with the [[Rapanui]] people.

Until the 1960s, the surviving Rapanui were confined to the settlement of [[Hanga Roa]] and the rest of the island was rented to the [[Williamson-Balfour Company]] as a sheep farm until 1953. The island was then managed by the [[Chilean Navy]] until 1966 and at that point the rest of the island was reopened. In 1966, the Rapanui were given Chilean citizenship.<ref>Diamond, Jared (2005), ''Collapse: How societies choose to fail or survive'', page 112.</ref>

On July 30, 2007, a constitutional reform gave Easter Island and [[Juan Fernández Islands]] the status of ''special territories'' of Chile. Pending the enactment of a special charter, the island will continue to be governed as a province of the [[Valparaíso Region]].<ref>[http://www.bcn.cl/leyes/pdf/original/263040.pdf Chilean Law 20,193], [[National Congress of Chile]]</ref>

== Ecology ==
[[Image:RapaNui L7 03jan01.jpg|thumb|left|View of Easter Island from space, 2001. The Poike peninsula is on the right.]]Easter Island, together with its closest neighbour, the tiny island of [[Isla Sala y Gómez]] 415&nbsp;km further east, is recognized by ecologists as a distinct [[ecoregion]], the Rapa Nui subtropical broadleaf forests. Having relatively little rainfall contributed to eventual deforestation. The original [[tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests|subtropical moist broadleaf forests]] are now gone, but [[paleobotany|paleobotanical]] studies of fossil [[pollen]] and tree moulds left by lava flows indicate that the island was formerly forested, with a range of trees, shrubs, ferns, and grasses. A large [[Arecaceae|palm]], ''[[Paschalococos|Paschalococos disperta]],'' related to the [[Chilean wine palm]] ''([[Jubaea]] chilensis)'', was one of the dominant trees, as was the [[toromiro]] tree ''([[Sophora]] toromiro)''. The palm is now extinct, and the toromiro is extinct in the wild. However, the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]], and the [[Göteborg Botanical Garden]] are jointly leading a scientific program to reintroduce the toromiro to Easter Island. The island is, and has been for at least the last three centuries, mainly covered in [[grassland]] with [[totora (plant)|nga'atu or bulrush]] in the crater lakes of [[Rano Raraku]] and [[Rano Kau]]. Presence of these reeds (which are called ''totora'' in the Andes) was used to support the argument of a South American origin of the statue builders, but pollen analysis of lake sediments shows these reeds have grown on the island for over 30,000 years. Before the arrival of humans, Easter Island had vast seabird colonies, no longer found on the main island, and several species of landbirds, which have become [[extinction|extinct]].

===Destruction of the ecosystem===
{{quote|"The overall picture for Easter is the most extreme example of forest destruction in the Pacific, and among the most extreme in the world: the whole forest gone, and all of its tree species extinct."<ref>Diamond 2005:107</ref>}}

[[Image:Pano Anakena beach.jpg|thumb|left|450px|Panorama of [[Anakena]] beach, Easter Island. The moai pictured here was the first to be raised back into place upon its ahu in 1955 by islanders using the ancient method.]]

Trees are sparse on modern Easter Island, rarely forming small [[grove (nature)|grove]]s. The island once had a forest of [[palm tree|palms]], and it has generally been thought that native Easter Islanders deforested the island in the process of erecting their statues.{{Fact|date=July 2007}} Experimental archaeology has clearly demonstrated that some statues certainly could have been placed on "Y" shaped wooden frames called miro manga erua and then pulled to their final destinations on ceremonial sites. Rapanui traditions metaphorically refer to spiritual power ''(mana)'' as the means by which the moai were "walked" from the quarry. But, given the island's southern latitude, the climatic effects of the [[Little Ice Age]] (about 1650 to 1850) may have contributed to deforestation and other changes, though such speculation is unproven.

[[Jared Diamond]] disregards the influence of climate but still gives an extensive look into the collapse of the ancient Easter Islanders in his book ''[[Collapse (book)|Collapse]]''. The disappearance of the island's trees seems to coincide with a decline of its civilization around the 17th and 18th century. [[Midden]] contents show a sudden drop in quantities of [[fish]] and [[bird]] [[bone]]s as the islanders lost the means to construct fishing vessels and the birds lost their nesting sites. [[Soil erosion]] due to lack of trees is apparent in some places. Sediment samples document that up to half of the native plants had become extinct and that the vegetation of the island was drastically altered. Chickens and [[rat]]s became leading items of diet and there are contested hints that [[cannibalism]] occurred, based on human remains associated with cooking sites, especially in caves.

In his article "From Genocide to Ecocide: The Rape of Rapa Nui", [[Benny Peiser]] notes evidence of self-sufficiency on Easter Island when Europeans first arrived. Although stressed, the island may still have had some (small) trees, mainly [[toromiro]]. Cornelis Bouman, [[Jakob Roggeveen]]'s captain, stated in his [[log book]], "... of [[yam]]s, [[banana]]s and small [[coconut palm]]s we saw little and no other trees or crops." According to [[Carl Friedrich Behrens]], Roggeveen's officer, "The natives presented palm branches as peace offerings. Their houses were set up on wooden stakes, daubed over with luting and covered with palm leaves," (presumably from [[banana]] plants as the island was by then deforested). The stakes indicate that either [[driftwood]] or living trees were still available, though the reliability of Behrens as a source is questionable{{Fact|date=May 2007}}. By contrast, Peiser considers these reports to indicate that considerable numbers of large trees still existed at that time, which is explicitly contradicted by the Bouman quote above.

In his book ''A Short History of Progress'', Ronald Wright speculates that for a generation or so, "there was enough old lumber to haul the great stones and still keep a few [[canoe]]s seaworthy for deep water". When the day came that the last boat was gone, wars broke out over "ancient planks and wormeaten bits of jetsam". But this statement is flawed since the sea going craft the islanders used were not made of wood, but of bundles of freshwater reeds planted in the [[Rano Kao]] crater which, according to Wright, were planted by one of the first "long-ear" settlers. A one-man craft of bound [[Totora (plant)|Scirpus totora]] reeds was called a pora. There were larger reed ships, some containting three masts with reed sails and capable of holding over 400 individuals, and are depicted in petroglyphs, roof paintings and sculptures.

By the end of the third epoch in the island's history, with only one "long-ear" surviving, there were more than a thousand moai (stone statues), which was one for every ten islanders (Wright, 2004). When the Europeans arrived in the 18th century, the worst was over and they only found one or two living souls per statue.

Easter Island has suffered from heavy soil erosion in recent centuries, perhaps aggravated by agriculture and massive [[deforestation]]. This process seems to have been gradual and may have been aggravated by extensive [[sheep farming]] throughout most of the 20th century. [[Jakob Roggeveen]] reported that Easter Island was exceptionally fertile. "Fowls are the only animals they keep. They cultivate bananas, sugar cane, and above all sweet potatoes." In 1786 [[M. de La Pérouse]] visited Easter Island and his gardener declared that "three days' work a year" would be enough to support the population.

Rollin, a major in the Perouse expedition of 1786, wrote, "Instead of meeting with men exhausted by famine... I found, on the contrary, a considerable population, with more beauty and grace than I afterwards met in any other island; and a soil, which, with very little labour, furnished excellent provisions, and in an abundance more than sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants."<ref>(Heyerdahl & Ferdon, 1961:57).</ref>

That oral traditions of the islanders are obsessed with cannibalism is sometimes taken as evidence supporting a rapid collapse. For example, to severely insult an enemy one would say, "The flesh of your mother sticks between my teeth." Diamond suggests that this means the food supply of the people ultimately ran out<ref>Diamond 2005:109</ref>; however, cannibalism was widespread across Polynesian cultures, rendering his conclusion speculative.<ref>[http://sscl.berkeley.edu/~oal/background/pacislands.htm Pacific islands archaeology<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Culture==
[[Image:Easter Island cave.jpg|thumb|right|Birdmen ([[Tangata manu]]) paintings in the so-called "Cave of the Men Eatresses".]]

=== Mythology ===
{{Unreferencedsection|date=June 2008}}
{{Main|Rapa Nui mythology}}
The most important [[Mythology|myth]]s are:
* [[Tangata manu]], the Birdman cult which was practiced until the 1860s.
* [[Makemake (mythology)|Makemake]], an important god.
* Aku-aku, the guardians of the sacred family caves.
* Moai-kava-kava a ghost man of the [[Hanau epe]] (long-ears.)
* Hekai ite umu pare haonga takapu Hanau epe kai noruego sacred chant to apease the aku-aku before entering a family cave.

=== Stone work ===
Rapa Nui is a volcanic island consisting of geologically recent igneous rock. The Rapa Nui people had a Stone Age civilization and made extensive use of several different types of indigenous stone:
* [[Basalt]], a hard, dense stone used for [[basalt toki|toki]] and at least [[Hoa Hakananai'a|one of the moai]].
* [[Obsidian]], a volcanic glass with sharp edges used for sharp-edged implements such as [[Mataa]] and also for the black pupils of the eyes of the moai.
* Red [[Scoria]] from [[Puna Pau]], a very light red stone used for the [[pukao]] and a few [[moai]].
* [[Tuff]] from [[Rano Raraku]], a much more easily worked rock than basalt, and was used for most of the moai.

==== Moai (statues) ====
{{Main|Moai}}
[[Image:Moai and Esmeralda.jpg|thumb|left|Moai with replica eyes at Ahu Ko Te Riku in [[Hanga Roa]], with [[Chilean Navy]] ship ''[[Esmeralda (BE-43)|Buque Escuela Esmeralda]]'' behind.]]
The large stone statues, or ''moai'', for which Easter Island is world-famous, were carved during a relatively short and intense burst of creative and productive megalithic activity. A total of 887 monolithic stone statues have been inventoried on the island and in museum collections. Although often identified as "Easter Island heads", the statues are actually complete torsos, the figures kneeling on bent knees with their hands over their stomach. Some upright moai have become buried up to their necks by shifting soils.

The period when the statues were produced remains disputed, with estimates ranging from 400 CE to 1500–1700&nbsp;CE. Almost all (95%) [[moais]] were carved out of distinctive, compressed, easily worked volcanic ash or [[tuff]] found at a single site inside the extinct volcano [[Rano Raraku]]. The native islanders who carved them used only stone hand chisels, mainly [[basalt toki]], which still lie in place all over the quarry. The stone chisels were re-sharpened by chipping off a new edge when dulled. The volcanic stone the moai were carved from was first wetted to soften it before sculpting began, then again periodically during the process. While many teams worked on different statues at the same time, a single moai would take a team of five or six men approximately one year to complete. Each statue represents a deceased long-ear chief or important person, their body interred within the [[Easter Island#Ahu|ahu]], or coastal platforms, the moai stand upon.

[[Image:Kneeled moai Easter Island.jpg|thumb|right|[[Rano Raraku#Tukuturi|Tukuturi]], an unusual bearded kneeling [[moai]].]]Only a quarter of the statues were installed, while nearly half still remain in the quarry at Rano Raraku and the rest elsewhere on the island, probably on their way to final locations. The largest Moai is known as "Paro" weighing 82 tons. <ref> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/easter/explore/paro.html</ref> There are several others close to this size. Pictures of these can be found in Thor Heyerdahl's books. <ref> Heyerdahl, Thor. Easter Island - A Mystery Solved. 1988. ISBN 951-30-8952-5. </ref> <ref> HEYERDAHL, THOR Aku-Aku 1958 </ref> Moving the huge statues required a [[miro manga erua]], a Y-shaped sledge with cross pieces, pulled with ropes made from the tough bark of the [[Triumfetta semitriloba|hau-hau]] tree<ref>Flenley JR. & King SM 1984. Late Quaternary pollen records from Easter Island. Nature 307: 47-50</ref>, and tied fast around the statue's neck. Anywhere from 180 to 250 men were required for pulling, depending on the size of the moai. There is some doubt about whether this method could be used successfully. For more information about past experiments and some far fetched theories see the following PBS site. <ref> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/easter/move/past.html</ref> Some 50 of the now standing statues have been re-erected in modern times. The first moai was re-erected on the beach of [[Anakena]] in 1958 using traditional methods during an expedition to the island by Thor Heyerdahl.

While the vast majority of moai follow a fairly standard design, a few are radically different, in most parts badly eroded and broken. These are believed to predate the better-known moai, including a kneeling statue with hands on its knees, parts of a statue with clearly carved ribs and a headless, rectangularly shaped torso. Similarities to Indian stone statues around [[Lake Titicaca]] in South America are striking, whether this is accidental or not.<ref>See Heyerdahl, with pictures.</ref>

==== ''Ahu'' ====
[[Image:Hangaroa Moais.jpg|thumb|right|Two ahu at [[Hanga Roa]]. In foreground Ahu [[Ko Te Riku]] (with a [[Pukao]] on its head). In the mid-ground is a side view of an [[Easter Island#Ahu|Ahu]] with five [[moai]] showing retaining wall, platform, ramp and pavement.]]

''Ahu'' are stone platforms which vary greatly in layout. Many have been significantly reworked during or after [[Moai#1722_-_1868_the_toppling_of_the_moai|the ''huri mo'ai'' or ''statue-toppling'']] era; many became [[ossuary|ossuaries]]; one was dynamited open; and [[Ahu Tongariki]] was swept inland by a [[tsunami]]. Of the 313 known ahu, 125 carried stone ''[[moai]]''—usually just one, probably due to the shortness of the moai period and difficulties in transporting them. [[Ahu Tongariki]], one kilometer from Rano Raraku, had the most and tallest moai, 15 in total. Other notable ahu with moai are [[Ahu Akivi]], restored in 1960 by [[William Mulloy]], Nau Nau at [[Anakena]] and Tahai. Ahu without stone moai may have had statues made of wood, now lost.

The classic elements of ''ahu'' design are:
* A retaining rear wall several feet high, usually facing the sea.
* A platform behind the wall.
* Pads or cushions on the platform.
* A sloping ramp covered with evenly sized, wave-rounded boulders on the inland side of the platform rising most of, but not all, the way up the side of the platform.
* A pavement in front of the ramp.
* Inside the Ahu was a fill of rubble.

[[Image:Ahu-Akivi-1.JPG|thumb|[[Ahu Akivi]], one of the few inland ''ahu'' with the only ''moai'' facing the ocean]]On top of many Ahu would have been:
* [[Moai]] on the pads looking out over the pavement with their backs to the rear wall.
* [[Pukao]] on the moai's heads.
* And in their eye sockets, white coral eyes with black obsidian pupils.

''Ahu'' evolved from the traditional Polynesian ''[[marae]]'' in which the word ''ahu'' was only used for the central stone platform, though on Easter Island ''ahu'' and ''moai'' evolved to a much greater size. The biggest ahu contained 20 times as much stone as a moai; however, most of this stone was sourced very locally (apart from broken, old ''moai'', fragments of which have also been used in the fill).<ref>See Heyerdahl, with pictures.</ref> Also individual stones are mostly far smaller than the moai, so less work was needed to transport the raw material.

''Ahu'' are found mostly on the coast, where they are distributed fairly evenly except on the western slopes of Mount [[Terevaka]] and the [[Rano Kau]] and [[Poike]]<ref>Heavy erosion and landslides may have buried them in soil.</ref> headlands. These are the three areas with the least low-lying coastal land, and apart from Poike the furthest areas from [[Rano Raraku]]. One ''ahu'' with several ''moai'' was recorded on the cliffs at Rano Kau in the 1880s, but had fallen to the beach by the time of the [[Katherine Routledge|Routledge expedition]] in 1914.

====Stone walls====
One of the highest-quality examples of Easter Island stone masonry is the rear wall of the ''Ahu'' at [[Vinapu]]. Made without mortar by shaping hard [[basalt]] rocks of up to seven [[ton]]s to match each other exactly, it has a superficial similarity to some [[Inca]] stone walls in [[South America]].<ref>See Heyerdahl, with pictures.(however [[Alfred Metraux]] pointed out that the rubble filled Rapanui walls were a fundamentally different design to those of the Inca, see also http://islandheritage.org/faq.html#ancient_Peru) </ref>

==== Stone houses ====
Some 1,233 prehistoric stone "houses", called ''tupa'' in earlier times<ref>See ''tupa'' in [http://www.rongorongo.org/vanaga/tu.html Englert's dictionary].</ref> and ''[[hare moa]]'' ("chicken house") later, are more conspicuous than the remains of the prehistoric human houses which only had stone foundations (except for those at [[Orongo]]). Stone houses were up to 6 meters long, with a distinctive boat-shaped structure combined with a stick and [[banana|palm]] leaf or thatch superstructure. The entrances were very low, and getting in required crawling.

Germans excavated some of the ''Hare Moa'' in 1882 and found human remains inside. Locals told them that they were resting places for the ''ariki'', Easter Island kings and chiefs. Each house had two small holes—if a hostile spirit entered through one, the spirit of the deceased could escape through the other. As such and also by their old name, the stone houses are seen similar to Indian ''[[chullpa]]s'' in [[Peru]] and [[Bolivia]].<ref>Heyerdahl, Thor. ''Easter Island - A Mystery Solved''. 1988. ISBN 951-30-8952-5.</ref> Noteworthy is that the remaining numbers of the stone houses and moais are quite close to each other, possibly meaning that for each person buried in a stone house, a moai was immediately constructed. Usage of stone houses as graves seems to have ceased around the same time when production of ''[[moai]]s'' ended and ancestral worship declined. During the turmoils of the late 18th century, the islanders seem to have started to bury their dead among the ruined ''ahus''—the ''moai'' platforms—and use the stone houses as chicken shelters. There are no human remains in them any more.

====Petroglyphs====
''[[Petroglyph]]s'' are pictures carved into rock, and Easter Island has one of the richest collections in all [[Polynesia]]. Around 1,000 sites with more than 4,000 petroglyphs are catalogued. Designs and images were carved out of rock for a variety of reasons: to create totems, to mark territory or to memorialize a person or event. There are distinct variations around the island in terms of the frequency of particular themes among petroglyphs, with a concentration of [[Birdmen (Rapa Nui)|Birdmen]] at [[Orongo]]. Other subjects include sea turtles, Komari (vulvas) and Makemake, the chief god of the ''[[Tangata manu]]'' or Birdman cult. (Lee 1992)

Petroglyphs are also common in the [[Marquesas]] islands.
<gallery>
Image:Makemake.jpeg|[[Makemake (mythology)|Makemake]] with two [[Tangata Manu|birdmen]]. Carved from red [[scoria]]
Image:Ahu-Tongariki-4-Petroglyph.JPG|Fish petroglyph found near [[Ahu Tongariki]]
Image:Motu Nui.jpg|Petroglyphs on Basalt rocks at [[Orongo]]. A [[Makemake (mythology)|Makemake]] at the base and two [[Tangata Manu|birdmen]] higher up
</gallery>

====Caves====
The island and neighbouring [[Motu Nui]] are riddled with caves, many of which show signs of past human use and fortification, including narrowed entrances and crawl spaces with ambush points. Many caves feature in the myths and legends of the Rapa Nui.

====Flying Rats====
Rats have been known to fly on Easter Island. Sightings have been frequent since [[April]] [[2005]]. It has been said that capturing a flying rat on a camera would result in the photographer's [[death]].

=== Rongorongo ===

{{main|Rongorongo}}

[[Image:Rongo-rongo script.gif|thumb|right|150px|Sample of [[rongorongo]].]]
The undeciphered Easter island script [[rongorongo]] may be one of the very few writing systems created ''[[ex nihilo]]'', without outside influence. Alternatively, the islanders' brief but very visible exposure to Western writing during the Spanish visit in 1770 inspired the ruling class to establish rongorongo as a religious tool.<ref>See Fischer, page 63.</ref> Legends claim that [[Hotu Matu'a]] brought the original tablets with him when he first landed at [[Anakena]]. Rongorongo has few similarities to the [[Easter Island#Petroglyphs|petroglyph]] corpus;<ref>See Fischer, pages 31 and 63.</ref> however, there is not a single line of rongorongo carved in stone despite thousands of petroglyphs and other remarkable stonework. Rongorongo probably originated on Easter Island in a rather late period.

Rongorongo was first reported by a French missionary, [[Eugène Eyraud]], in 1864. At that time, several islanders still claimed to be able to understand the scripture, but all attempts to read them were unsuccessful. According to traditions, only a small part of the population was ever literate, rongorongo being a privilege of the ruling families and priests. This contributed to the total loss of knowledge of how to read rongorongo in the 1860s, when the island's elite was annihilated by slave raids and disease.

Of the hundreds of wooden tablets and staffs reportedly having rongorongo writing carved on them, only two dozen survive,<ref>images of them are at [http://www.rongorongo.org www.rongorongo.org].</ref> scattered in museums around the world with none remaining on Easter Island. Decades of numerous attempts to decipher proved unfruitful, and the scientific community does not agree on whether rongorongo was truly a form of writing.

===Wood carving===<!-- [[Gallery of flags by design]], [[Flag of Rapa Nui]] both link here -->

Wood was scarce on Easter Island during the 18th and 19th centuries, but a number of highly detailed and distinctive carvings have found their way to the world's museums. Particular forms include:<ref>The mystery of Easter island, routledge page 268</ref>

* [[Reimiro]], a [[gorget]] or breast ornament of crescent shape with a head at one or both tips.<ref>[http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aoa/w/wooden_gorget_rei_miro.aspx Wooden gorget (rei miro)]. British Museum.</ref> The same design appears on the [[flag of Rapa Nui]]. Two Rei Miru at the British Museum are inscribed with Rongorongo.
* Moko-Miro, a man with a lizard head.
* [[Moai-Miro]], human images often emaciated and sometimes with long ears.
* Ao, a large dancing paddle.

===Contemporary culture===
[[Image:Easter Island Dance.JPG|right|thumb|[[Polynesian]] dancing with feather costumes is on the tourist itinerary]]

The [[Rapanui]] have:
* An annual cultural festival, the ''Tapati'', celebrating Rapanui culture.
* A [[Easter Island national football team|"national" football team]].
* Three [[disco]]s in the town of [[Hanga Roa]].
* A musical tradition that combines South American and Polynesian influences ''(see [[music of Easter Island]])''.
* A vibrant carving tradition.

== Demography ==
{{see|Europeans in Oceania}}

===2002 census===
Population at the 2002 census was 3,791 (3,304 in [[Hanga Roa]] alone). 60% were Rapanui, [[Demographics of Chile|Chileans]] of European or [[mestizo]] descent were 39% of the population, and the remaining 1% were [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] from mainland Chile.

Rapanui have also migrated out of the island. At the 2002 census, 2,269 Rapanui lived on Easter Island, while 2,378 lived in the mainland of Chile (half of them in the metropolitan area of [[Santiago, Chile|Santiago]]){{Fact|date=April 2007}}.

Population density on Easter Island is only 23 inhabitants per km² (60 per sq&nbsp;mi), much lower than in the 17th century heyday of the moai building when there were possibly as many as 15,000 inhabitants, or roughly 92 inhabitants per km² (214 per sq&nbsp;mi).

===Demographic history===
The population was 1,936 inhabitants in 1982. This increase in population is partly due to the arrival of people of [[European ethnic groups|European]] or [[mestizo]] descent from the mainland of Chile. Consequently, the island is losing its native [[Polynesian culture|Polynesian]] identity.{{Fact|date=August 2008}} In 1982 around 70% of the population were [[Rapanui]] (the native Polynesian inhabitants). Population had already declined to only 2,000–3,000 inhabitants before the [[slave trade|slave raids]] of 1862. In the 19th century, [[infectious disease|disease]] due to contacts with Europeans, as well as deportation of 2,000 Rapanui to work as slaves in Peru, and the forced departure of the remaining Rapanui to Chile, carried the population of Easter Island to the all-time low of 111 inhabitants in 1877. Out of these 111 Rapanui, only 36 had descendants, but all of today's Rapanui claim descent from those 36.

==Administration and legal status==

Easter Island shares with [[Juan Fernández Islands]] the [[sui generis]] constitutional status of ''special territory'' of Chile, granted in 2007. A special charter for the island is currently being discussed, therefore it continues to be considered a province of the [[Valparaíso Region]], containing a single commune. Both the province and the commune are called "Easter Island" and encompass the whole island and its surrounding islets and rocks, plus [[Isla Salas y Gómez]], some 380 km to the east.

===Authorities===
*Provincial governor: [[Melania Carolina Hotu Hey]]. Appointed by the President of the Republic.
*Mayor: [[Pedro Pablo Edmunds Paoa]] ([[Partido Demócrata Cristiano|PDC]]). Directly-elected for four years. Municipality located in [[Hanga Roa]].
*[[Municipal council]]:
** Hipólito Juan Icka Nahoe ([[Humanist Party (Chile)|PH]])
** Eliana Amelia Olivares San Juan ([[Independent Democrat Union|UDI]])
** Nicolás Haoa Cardinali (Ind., [[center-right]])
** Marcelo Icka Paoa ([[Partido Demócrata Cristiano|PDC]])
** Alberto Hotus Chávez ([[Party for Democracy|PPD]])
** Marcelo Pont Hill ([[Party for Democracy|PPD]])

==Notable natives==
* [[Hotu Matua|Hotu Matu‘a]] - Island founder
* [[King Nga'ara|King Nga‘ara]] - last great [[ariki|‘ariki]]
* [[Sebastian Englert|Fr Sebastian Englert, OFM Cap.]] - Missionary and ethnologist
* [[William Mulloy]] - Archaeologist
* [[Melania Carolina Hotu Hey]] - Governor
* [[Sergio Rapu Haoa]] - Former Governor
* [[Pedro Pablo Edmunds Paoa]] - Mayor
* [[Juan Edmunds Rapahango]] - Former island mayor
* [[Iohan "Itto" HauMoana]] - Musician and surfer
* [[Hotuiti Teao]] - Television host and model
* [[Martín Hereveri]] - Television personality

== See also ==
* [[Rapa Nui language]]
* [[Moai]]
* [[Rongorongo]]
* [[Orongo]]
* [[Rapa Nui mythology]]
* [[Rapa Nui National Park]]
* [[Omphalos]]
* [[Mataveri International Airport]]


==References==
==References==
{{Wikify|date=October 2008}}<!--MUST USE CITE JOURNAL FORMAT, WITHOUT AUTHORS IN CAPITALS-->
{{reflist|2}}
* {{cite journal|last=Beauvilain|first= Alain|year=2008|title=The contexts of discovery of ''Australopithecus bahrelghazali'' (Abel) and of ''Sahelanthropus tchadensis'' (Toumaï): unearthed, embedded in sandstone, or surface collected?|journal=South African Journal of Science|volume=104|issue=5/6|pages= pp. 165-168}}{{Verify source|date=August 2008}}<!-- "169"? -->

* {{aut|Brunet, Michel; Guy, Franck; Pilbeam, David; Mackaye, Hassane Taisso; Likius, Andossa; Ahounta, Djimdoumalbaye; Beauvilain, Alain; Blondel, Cécile; Bocherens, Hervé; Boisserie, Jean-Renaud; De Bonis, Louis; Coppens, Yves; Dejax, Jean; Denys, Christiane; Duringer, Philippe; Eisenmann, Véra; Fanone, Gongdibé; Fronty, Pierre; Geraads, Denis; Lehmann, Thomas; Lihoreau, Fabrice; Louchart, Antoine; Mahamat, Adoum; Merceron, Gildas; Mouchelin, Guy; Otero, Olga; Pelaez Campomanes, Pablo; Ponce de Leon, Jean-Renaud; Rage, Jean-Claude; Sapanet, Michel; Schuster, Mathieu; Sudre, Jean; Tassy, Pascal; Valentin, Xavier; Vignaud, Patrick; Viriot, Laurent; Zazzo, Antoine & Zollikofer, Christoph P.E.}} (2002): A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa. ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' '''418'''(6894): 145–151. <small>{{doi|10.1038/nature00879}}</small> [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6894/pdf/nature00879.pdf PDF fulltext]. '''Erratum:''' ''Nature'' '''418'''(6899): 801. <small>{{doi|10.1038/nature01005}}</small> [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6899/pdf/nature01005.pdf PDF fulltext]
== Selected bibliography ==
* {{aut|Brunet, Michel; Guy, Franck; Pilbeam, David; Lieberman, Daniel E.; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassane Taisso; Ponce de León, Marcia S.; Zollikofer, Christoph P.E. & Vignaud, Patrick}} (2005): New material of the earliest hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad. ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' '''434'''(6894): 752-755. <small>{{doi|10.1038/nature03392}}</small> [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~skeleton/pdfs/2005a.pdf PDF fulltext]
* ALTMAN, Ann M. 2004. Early Visitors to Easter Island 1864-1877 (translations of the accounts of Eugène Eyraud, Hippolyte Roussel, Pierre Loti and Alphonse Pinart; with an Introduction by Georgia Lee). Los Osos, CA: Easter Island Foundation.
* {{aut|Guy, Franck; Lieberman, Daniel E.; Pilbeam, David; Ponce de León, Marcia S.; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassane Taisso; Vignaud, Patrick; Zollikofer, Christoph P.E. & Brunet, Michel}} (2005): Morphological affinities of the ''Sahelanthropus tchadensis'' (Late Miocene hominid from Chad) cranium. ''[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Science|PNAS]]'' '''102'''(52): 18836–18841. <small>{{doi|10.1073/pnas.0509564102}}</small> [http://www.pnas.org/content/102/52/18836.full.pdf PDF fulltext] [http://www.pnas.org/content/102/52/18836/suppl/DC1 Supporting Tables]
* BARTHEL, Thomas. 1958. Grundlagen zur Entzifferung der Osterinselschrift. Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter.
* {{aut|Wolpoff, M.H.; Hawks, John; Senut, Brigitte; Pickford, Martin & Ahern, James}} (2006): An Ape or ''the'' Ape: Is the Toumaï Cranium TM 266 a Hominid? ''PaleoAnthropology'' '''2006''': 36–50. [http://www.paleoanthro.org/journal/content/PA20060036.pdf PDF fulltext]
* BUTINOV, Nikolai A., & Yuri V. KNOROZOV. 1957. Preliminary Report on the Study of the Written Language of Easter Island. Journal of the Polynesian Society 66. 1.
* [[Jared Diamond|Diamond, Jared.]] 2005. ''[[Collapse (book)|Collapse. How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.]]'' New York: Viking. ISBN 0-14-303655-6.
* ENGLERT, Sebastian F. 1970. Island at the Center of the World. Translated and Edited by William Mulloy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
* FEDOROVA, Irina K. 1965. Versions of Myths and Legends in Manuscripts from Easter Island. In: Heyerdahl et al (eds.), Miscellaneous Papers: Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and East Pacific 2. 395-401. Stockholm: Forum.
* FISCHER, Steven Roger. 1995. Preliminary Evidence for Cosmogonic Texts in Rapanui’s Rongorongo Inscriptions. Journal of the Polynesian Society 104. 303-21.
* FISCHER, Steven Roger. 1997. Glyph-breaker: A Decipherer's Story. N.Y.: Copernicus/Springer-Verlag.
* FISCHER, Steven Roger. 1997. RongoRongo, the Easter Island Script: History, Traditions, Texts. Oxford and N.Y.: Oxford University Press.
* GUY, Jacques B.M. 1985. On a fragment of the “Tahua” Tablet. Journal of the Polynesian Society 94. 367-87.
* GUY, Jacques B.M. 1988. Rjabchikov’s Decipherments Examined. Journal of the Polynesian Society 97. 321-3.
* GUY, Jacques B.M. 1990. On the Lunar Calendar of Tablet Mamari. Journal de la Société des Océanistes 91:2.135-49.
* HEYERDAHL, Thor. 1965. The Concept of Rongorongo Among the Historic Population of Easter Island. In: Thor Heyerdahl & Edwin N. Ferdon Jr. (eds. and others.), 1961-65. Stockholm: Forum.
* HEYERDAHL, THOR Aku-Aku; The 1958 Expedition to Easter Island.
* HUNT, Terry L. 2006. Rethinking the Fall of Easter Island. ''American Scientist'', '''94''', 412 (Sept-October 2006)
* HUNTER-ANDERSON, R. 1998. Human vs climatic impacts at Rapa Nui: did the people really cut down all those trees? ''In:''Stevenson, C.M.; Lee, G. & Morin, F.J. (eds): ''Easter Island in Pacific Context. South Seas Symposium: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Easter Island and East Polynesia'': 85–99. Easter Island Foundation.
* LEE, Georgia. 1992. The Rock Art of Easter Island. Symbols of Power, Prayers to the Gods. Los Angeles: The Institute of Archaeology Publications (UCLA).
* MELLÉN BLANCO, Francisco. 1986. Manuscritos y documentos españoles para la historia de la isla de Pascua. Madrid: CEHOPU.
* [[Alfred Metraux|MÉTRAUX, Alfred]]. 1940. Ethnology of Easter Island. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 160. Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum Press.
* POZDNIAKOV, Konstantin. 1996. Les Bases du Déchiffrement de l'Écriture de l'Ile de Pâques. Journal de la Societé des Océanistes 103:2.289-303.
* [[Katherine Routledge|ROUTLEDGE, Katherine]]. 1919. The Mystery of Easter Island. The story of an expedition. London.
* THOMSON, William J. 1891. Te Pito te Henua, or Easter Island. Report of the United States National Museum for the Year Ending June 30, 1889. Annual Reports of the Smithsonian Institution for 1889. 447-552. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
* VAN TILBURG, Jo Anne. 1994. Easter Island: Archaeology, Ecology and Culture. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
* VARGAS, Patricia; CRISTINO, Claudio and IZAURIETA, Roberto. 2006. 1000 AÑOS EN RAPA NUI. Arqueologia del Asentamiento. Santiago, Universidad de Chile, Editorial Universitaria. ISBN 956-11-1879-3.


==External links==
==External links==
{{Wikispecies|Sahelanthropus}}
{{commonscat|Easter Island}}
*[http://www.sahelanthropus.com/ Sahelanthropus.com]
* {{wikitravel}}
*[http://toumai.site.voila.fr/ PARTICIPANTS IN SAHARA SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS]
* {{dmoz|Regional/South_America/Chile/Regions/Valpara%edso/Easter_Island/}}
*[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/toumai.html Fossil Hominids: Toumai]
{{Polynesia}}
*[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0710_020710_chadskull.html National Geographic: Skull Fossil Opens Window Into Early Period of Human Origins]
{{Culture of Oceania}}
*[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6894/fig_tab/nature00879_F1.html image of the skull] (nature.com)
{{Austronesian-speaking countries and territories}}
*[http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/ap_050406_chad_bones.html New Findings Bolster Case for Ancient Human Ancestor]
{{Communes in Valparaíso Region}}
*[http://johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/sahelanthropus/sahel_wolpoff_paper_2006.html A challenge to Sahelanthropus] John Hawks

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{{Human_Evolution}}
[[Category:Easter Island]]
* http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:CoVmuC9UJdBnuM:http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Evolution/Hominids/Sahelanthropus%2520tchadensis.gif
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Chile]]
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[[Category:Early hominids]]
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[[Category:Miocene mammals]]
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Revision as of 01:16, 13 October 2008

Sahelanthropus tchadensis
"Toumaï"
Temporal range: Late Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Primates
Family:
Hominidae
Subfamily:
Homininae
Tribe:
Hominini
Subtribe:
Hominina
Genus:
†Sahelanthropus

Brunet et al, 2002[1]
Species:
S. tchadensis
Binomial name
†Sahelanthropus tchadensis
Brunet et al, 2002

Sahelanthropus tchadensis is a fossil ape that lived approximately 7-6 million years ago. It is sometimes claimed as the oldest known ancestor of Homo (humans) post-dating the most recent common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees. It was a species of Miocene ape, related to humans and the living African apes.

Fossils

Location of discovery
Detail

Existing fossils – a relatively small cranium nicknamed Toumaï ("hope of life" in the local Goran language of Chad), five pieces of jaw and some teeth – make up a head that has a mixture of derived and primitive features. The braincase, being only of 340 cm³ to 360 cm³ in volume is similar to that of extant chimpanzees and is notably less than the approximate human volume of 1350 cm³. The teeth, brow ridges, and facial structure differ markedly from those found in Homo sapiens. Due to the distortion that the cranium has suffered, a 3D computer reconstruction has not been produced. Since no postcranial remains (bones below the skull) have been discovered, it is as of yet unknown whether Sahelanthropus tchadensis was indeed bipedal, although claims for an anteriorly placed foramen magnum suggests that this may have been the case, although some paleontologists have disputed this interpretation of the basicranium. Its canine wear is similar to other Miocene apes.[2]

The fossils were discovered in the Djurab desert of Chad by a team of four; three Chadians, Adoum Mahamat and Djimdoumalbaye Ahounta (who found the skull[verification needed] on July 19, 2001) and Gongdibé Fanone, and the French team leader Alain Beauvilain. All known material of Sahelanthropus were found between July 2001 to March 2002 at three sites (TM 247, TM 266 which yielded most of the material, and TM 292). The discoverers claimed that S. tchadensis is the oldest known human ancestor after the split of the human line from that of chimpanzees. The bones were found far from most previous hominin fossil finds, which are from Eastern and Southern Africa. However, an Australopithecus bahrelghazali mandible was found in Chad by the Sahelanthropus' discoverers as early as 1993.[2]

Relationship to modern humans and great apes

Sahelanthropus may represent a common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees; most molecular clocks suggest humans and chimps diverged 1–2 million years after S. tchadensis (5 mya) but there is now general acceptance among paleontologists and molecular biologists that such a late divergence is no longer tenable. The original placement of this species as a human ancestor but not a chimpanzee ancestor would complicate the picture of human phylogeny. In particular, if Toumaï is a direct human ancestor, then its facial features bring the status of Australopithecus into doubt because its thickened brow ridges were reported to be similar to those of some later fossil hominids (notably Homo erectus), whereas this morphology differs from that observed in all australopithecines, most fossil hominids and extant humans.

Another possibility is that Toumaï is related to both humans and chimpanzees, but is the ancestor of neither. Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford, the discoverers of Orrorin tugenensis, suggested that the features of S. tchadensis are consistent with a female proto-gorilla. Even if this claim is upheld, then the find would lose none of its significance, for at present precious few chimpanzee or gorilla ancestors have been found anywhere in Africa. Thus if S. tchadensis is an ancestral relative of the chimpanzees (or gorillas) then it represents the first known member of their lineage. Furthermore, S. tchadensis does indicate that the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees is unlikely to resemble chimpanzees very much, as had been previously supposed by some paleontologists.[3]

Unfortunately, the exact age of the fossil is somewhat hard to determine. While molecular clocks are increasingly found to be far more unreliable than initially believed, sediment isotope analysis which yielded an age of about 7 million years is generally considered quite reliable. In this case however, the fossils were found partially exposed in loose sand; co-discoverer Beauvilain cautions that such sediment can be easily moved by the wind, unlike packed earth. The sediment surrounding the fossils might thus not be the material the bones were originally deposited in, making it necessary to corroborate the fossil's age by some other means. The fauna found at the site – namely the anthracotheriid Libycosaurus petrochii and the suid Nyanzachoerus syrticus – suggests an age of more than 6 million years, as these species were probably extinct already by that time.[4]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Usually, all authors of a taxon description are cited. In this case they are so many however that for layout reasons the list is abbreviated. The full citation is:
    Brunet, Guy, Pilbeam, Mackaye, Likius, Ahounta, Beauvilain, Blondel, Bocherens, Boisserie, De Bonis, Coppens, Dejax, Denys, Duringer, Eisenmann, Fanone, Fronty, Geraads, Lehmann, Lihoreau, Louchart, Mahamat, Merceron, Mouchelin, Otero, Pelaez Campomanes, Ponce de León, Rage, Sapanet, Schuster, Sudre, Tassy, Valentin, Vignaud, Viriot, Zazzo, & Zollikofer, 2002.
  2. ^ a b Brunet et al. (2002, 2005)
  3. ^ Guy et al. (2005), Wolpoff et al. (2006)
  4. ^ Brunet et al. (2005), Beauvilain (2008)

References

  • Beauvilain, Alain (2008). "The contexts of discovery of Australopithecus bahrelghazali (Abel) and of Sahelanthropus tchadensis (Toumaï): unearthed, embedded in sandstone, or surface collected?". South African Journal of Science. 104 (5/6): pp. 165-168. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)[verification needed]
  • Brunet, Michel; Guy, Franck; Pilbeam, David; Mackaye, Hassane Taisso; Likius, Andossa; Ahounta, Djimdoumalbaye; Beauvilain, Alain; Blondel, Cécile; Bocherens, Hervé; Boisserie, Jean-Renaud; De Bonis, Louis; Coppens, Yves; Dejax, Jean; Denys, Christiane; Duringer, Philippe; Eisenmann, Véra; Fanone, Gongdibé; Fronty, Pierre; Geraads, Denis; Lehmann, Thomas; Lihoreau, Fabrice; Louchart, Antoine; Mahamat, Adoum; Merceron, Gildas; Mouchelin, Guy; Otero, Olga; Pelaez Campomanes, Pablo; Ponce de Leon, Jean-Renaud; Rage, Jean-Claude; Sapanet, Michel; Schuster, Mathieu; Sudre, Jean; Tassy, Pascal; Valentin, Xavier; Vignaud, Patrick; Viriot, Laurent; Zazzo, Antoine & Zollikofer, Christoph P.E. (2002): A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa. Nature 418(6894): 145–151. doi:10.1038/nature00879 PDF fulltext. Erratum: Nature 418(6899): 801. doi:10.1038/nature01005 PDF fulltext
  • Brunet, Michel; Guy, Franck; Pilbeam, David; Lieberman, Daniel E.; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassane Taisso; Ponce de León, Marcia S.; Zollikofer, Christoph P.E. & Vignaud, Patrick (2005): New material of the earliest hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad. Nature 434(6894): 752-755. doi:10.1038/nature03392 PDF fulltext
  • Guy, Franck; Lieberman, Daniel E.; Pilbeam, David; Ponce de León, Marcia S.; Likius, Andossa; Mackaye, Hassane Taisso; Vignaud, Patrick; Zollikofer, Christoph P.E. & Brunet, Michel (2005): Morphological affinities of the Sahelanthropus tchadensis (Late Miocene hominid from Chad) cranium. PNAS 102(52): 18836–18841. doi:10.1073/pnas.0509564102 PDF fulltext Supporting Tables
  • Wolpoff, M.H.; Hawks, John; Senut, Brigitte; Pickford, Martin & Ahern, James (2006): An Ape or the Ape: Is the Toumaï Cranium TM 266 a Hominid? PaleoAnthropology 2006: 36–50. PDF fulltext

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