lab on outline ect

What is my topic?

Easter Island has long been a topic of study for scientists around the world. How the people arrived on Easter Island, where they came from, what they brought with them, how they lived, the culture of the island, the famous rock sculptures they built, and how/why their society collapsed. There are many aspects of Easter Island that have been researched thoroughly by numerous scientists and other academics. My research paper however, will focus on the decline of Easter Island. Why did the Island’s society collapse? What were the primary geographic causes of Easter Island’s collapse? What are the differing opinions and studies on those causes? Was it the inhabitant’s destruction of their environment, or other factors, that led to the decline of Easter Island’s civilization? How was their culture related to the collapse of their society? Looking at the primary experts on Easter Island’s collapse and comparing the different arguments will help me show how and why Easter Island collapsed. The majority of my sources fit into three different categories, disease and rats, deforestation and environmental arguments, and the culture/history/origins of the Easter Islanders.

What do you think about your topic?

            My topic is important because it pieces together all the different articles regarding Easter Island and clarifies what really happened. There is quite a bit of controversy regarding the fall of Easter Island, and by taking all the various sources, ideas, viewpoints I hope to shed light on why Easter Island really collapsed.

What do you know about it?

            I know when Easter Island was colonized, what they brought with them, where they came from, their significant cultural practices (such as constructing and moving stone statues) that effected their everyday life, their agricultural practices, how and what they used their resources for, when and why deforestation and environmental degradation occurred, when the Europeans showed up, and I know what both sides think happened on Easter Island. I know how/why/when Easter Island collapsed.

What is your claim about the topic?

            Easter Island’s society collapsed due to deforestation and environmental degradation that was brought on by the Islanders’ lifestyles and culture.

What is your stance on the issue you are writing about?

            The Easter Islanders’ deforested their island. They were cutting down trees for agricultural needs, cutting down more trees due to population expansion, and cutting down trees to move their giant stone statues. Replacement trees did not have enough time to grow, and thus they cut down all the trees. The Europeans did not arrive until after Easter Island was already deforested and doomed to collapse. This is shown by the carbon dating of various burned trees, accounts of what Easter Island looked like upon the European’s arrival, and supported in numerous other ways throughout the scientific community I will be basing my argument off of.

Rats were not the primary cause of deforestation as they arrived with the Europeans, and they did not eat the trees. They only ate the seeds, someone had to cut down that last tree. Disease was also not the primary cause of the collapse of Easter Island, as the diseases, slave trade, and other European impacts did not occur until after the Islanders had already destroyed their environment.

Which sources back you up?

Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. London: Penguin Books. 2006. Print.

            This book is the reason I choose this topic. Jarred Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California, and a world renowned geographer. In Diamond’s book Collapse he studies how, why, and when various societies failed. In the section regarding Easter Island he discusses the history/geography of the island, the culture, deforestation, other causes of collapse, the European’s arrival, and why Easter Island was so fragile. This book will be incredibly useful because it covers all of the topics and some that I would like to incorporate into my paper. I will use it as a key reference, and as a tool to frame my argument.

Daimond, Jared M. Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years. London: Vintage, 2005, 1997. Print.

            In this book Jared Diamond examines numerous different societies in order to show how the modern world came to be. This book very broadly discusses so many different topics that I think will decrease its usefulness for my paper. I could potentially do a search online to figure out where/when Easter Island is mentioned in the book, but I may not be able to make use of it still due to its broadness.

Diamond, Jared. “Easter Island Revisited.” Science, New Series 317 (2006): 1692-1694. American Association for the Advancement of Science. JSTOR. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

            Jared Diamond is a professor of geography at the University of California. This is one of several written works by Diamond that I will be referring to. In this particular article Diamond examines deforestation on Easter Island by showing how it occurred and what the results were. By identifying 78,000 bits of burnt wood from radiocarbon-dated ovens/fire pits Diamond is able to show what species of trees were exterminated and when. This article will be incredibly useful for my argument that the deforestation of the Island was one of the main causes of Easter Island’s collapse.

Finney, Ben. “Voyage to Polynesia’s Land’s End.” Antiquity 75.287 (2001): 172-81. Proquest Research Library.  Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

            Ben Finney has a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University. Finney’s article discusses where the Easter Islander’s migrated from. Finney discusses all of the various options discussing the validity of each one. This article will not be useful for my paper, because I already have another article that states where the Islanders came from, and this article provides no other useful information.

Flenley, John, Kevin Butler, and Paul Bahn. “Respect Versus Contempt for Evidence: Reply to Hunt and Lipo.” Rapa Nui Journal 21.2 (2007): 98-104. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

            This article is highly argumentative and is responding to Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo’s article, “Chronology, Deforestation, and ‘Collapse,’ Evidence vs. Faith in Rapa Nui Prehistory, published in 2007. John Flenley and Kevin Butler are Emeritus professors from Massey University and Paul Bahn is an archaeologist with a PHD from the University of Cambridge. In this article they address many key issues such as the role rats played in Easter Island’s collapse, deforestation, the reliability of evidence such as core samples, the arrival date of the Easter Islanders, and even provides a timeline of collapse stating all the key factors. This article will be very useful for reinforcing my argument and I will use a lot of the information to dispute my opposing arguments.

Flenley, John, Paul Bahn. “Conflicting Views of Easter Island.” Rapa Nui Journal 21.1
(2007): 11-13. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

            John Flenley and Paul Bahn scrutinize Paul Rainbird and Benny Peiser’s articles regarding the causes of Easter Island’s collapse. John Flenley is an Emeritus professor in biogeography, and a retired professor from Massey University. Paul Bahn is an archaeologist with a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge. They thoroughly oppose Rainbird and Peiser’s articles that state Easter Island’s collapse was primarily due to visits from Eastern European’s which resulted in the spread of disease and slave trafficking. Flenley and Bahn argue that the community was collapsing even before those incidences due to the deforestation and other effects of the Islanders’ inhabitance/practices on that Island. I will use this article to show opposing viewpoints regarding the collapse of Easter Island, and to support my argument that it was deforestation and the islanders’ practices that resulted in the collapse of their society, not external factors.

Foot, K. David. “Easter Island; A Case Study in Non-sustainability.” Greener Management International 48 (2006): 11-20. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct 2014.

            David Foot is a professor at the University of Toronto. In his paper he uses Easter Island as an example case study of non-sustainability. Foot focus’s on how deforestation was attributable to overuse resulting in the collapse of Easter Island’s society. He believes studying Easter Island’s collapse can show us how to avoid repeating those mistakes. I can use the evidence in this article to support my argument that deforestation was primarily due to the people’s destruction of their environment.

Good, David H., and Rafael Reuveny. “The Fate of Easter Island: The Limits of Resource Management Institutions.” Ecological Economics 58.3 (2006): 473-490. Science Direct. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

            David Good and Rafael Reuveny are from Indianna University. Good and Reuveny oppose James A. Brander and M. Scott Taylor’s article regarding resource management institutions on Easter Island. Some scientists such as James A. Brander amd M. Scott Taylor believe that Easter Island did not have these institutions and that if they had, their society would have been more successful. Good and Reuveny on the other hand state that Easter Island already had several resource management institutions, and that their society collapsed despite. I will use this to show what resource management institutions scientists can prove the Easter Islanders used, as well as to show more controversy on my subject.

Hamilton, Sue, Mike Seager Thomas, and Ruth Whitehouse. "Say It with Stone: Constructing with Stones on Easter Island." World Archaeology 43.2 (2011): 167-190. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

            This Source exams the stone statues constructed on Easter Island. Sue Hamilton, Mike Seager Thomas, and Ruth Whitehouse work at the institute of archaeology at University College in London. The three authors examine what kinds of stone the Islanders used, how they used them, and the meaning the statues had to the people on Easter Island. I will use this article to show that the availability of pine trees increasingly declined from AD 1500 and was partially due to the introduction of these famous statues. This article does not go as in depth as I need, however, it also includes various maps of the island that I may use as a visual aid in my own document.

Hughes, J.D. “Easter Island: Model for Environmental History?” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 14.2 (2003): 77. Proquest Research Library. Web. 7 Oct 2014.

            J.D. Hughes is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Denver Colorado. In this article Hughes delineates how Easter Island began by stating approximately when the first inhabitants arrived and the key plants/animals they brought with them. He then gives a brief summary of their life on the island, describes the deforestation and its effects, and continues on to examine when the European’s arrived and what their effect was on the Island’s inhabitants. I will use this article primarily as a timeline of what happened when so that I can show deforestation was the main cause of the Island’s collapse. I will also use this article to show what the Islanders had in the beginning, because without knowing what they started with, my audience wouldn’t understand what they destroyed.

Martinsson-Wallin, Helene, and Susan J. Crockford. “Early Settlement of Rapa Nui (Easter Island).” Asian Perspectives 40.2 (2001): 244-78. Proquest Research Library. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

            This article discusses the settlement of Easter Island. It reviews numerous scientific data in order to pinpoint the most accurate date. Helene Martinsson-Wallin works at the Kon-Tiki museum in Norway and Susan Crockford is employed by Pacific Identifications in British Columbia. I will use this article to accurately show when the Easter Islanders settled. Without knowing the date they began it would be difficult to determine a timeline of when the society began collapsing and why.

Stevenson, Christopher M., et al. "Prehistoric and Early Historic Agriculture at Maunga Orito, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile." Antiquity 80.310 (2006): 919-936. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

            This article delineates the different farming/agricultural methods used on Easter Island, how they developed over time, and ways they adapted to circumstances such as deforestation. Christopher M. Stevenson is from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Thomas Jackson is from Pacific Legacy, both Andreas Mieth and Hans-Rudolf Bork are from the University of Kiel, and Thegn N. Ladefoged is from the University of Aukland. These five authors examine agricultural practices starting with the first settlers on Easter Island by examining soil profiles, carbon dating samples, and inspecting various remnants of their civilization throughout the Island. This article is not as useful for my argument as I thought it would be, though I can use this information to show how the Islanders adapted to their degrading environment.

What are the sources you disagree with?

Brander, James A., and M. Scott Taylor. "The Simple Economics of Easter Island: A Ricardo-Malthus Model of Renewable Resource Use." American Economic Review 88.1 (1998): 119-138. Business Source Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

            James Brander and M. Scott Taylor are from the University of British Columbia. In this article they propose that Easter Island would have been more successful if they had instituted resource management systems. They use the Ricardo-Malthus model of renewable resource use to help frame their argument. I will use this to show the opposing side of my argument that will state Easter Island already had resource management institutions in place.

Heyerdahl, Thor. The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas. London: Allen and Unwin, ltd, 1950. Print.

            Thor Heyerdahl attended Oslo University, and made a world famous trip from Peru to French Polynesia on a raft to make his argument that Easter Island inhabitants were related to Peruvians. Kon-Tiki is the book he wrote describing this journey and his findings. Though his work was discredited later by the scientific community, I can use this as an example of an expert that went wrong with their studies. I will compare some of my opposing writer’s works to his works to show why they will be discredited. Though his hypothesis was proved wrong, the voyage was spectacular, and he provides a good baseline to compare other professionals who make similarly bad arguments based off of not enough evidence regarding Easter Island.

Hunt, Terry L. “Rethinking the Fall of Easter Island.” The American Scientist. (2014). Web. 2 Oct. 2014.

            Terry L. Hunt is a professor at the University of Hawai’i. In this article he argues that Easter Island collapsed due to the European’s introduction of disease and rats. Hunt attempts to discredit Diamond’s works on Easter Island without backing up any of his claims with evidence. This article was written for popularity, not for its scholarly merits. I will be opposing his view points with my argument. I will use this article to show some of the controversy regarding Easter Island’s collapse.

Hunt, Terry L., and Carl P. Lipo. “Revisiting Rapa Nui (Easter Island); ‘Ecocide’ 1.” Pacific Science 63.4 (2009): 601-16. Proquest Research Library.  Web. 7 Oct. 2014.

            In this article Hunt and Lipo attempt to discredit primarily Jarred Diamond’s works on Easter Island, both his book Collapse and his article, “Easter Island Revisited.” Hunt and Lipo again argue that Easter Island’s collapse was not just related to over population and deforestation by the Islanders themselves, but that instead the collapse was primarily due to the European’s arrival and the rats that they brought with them. Hunt and Lipo also refer to Flenley and Bahn, however they state that their response to them is in their other article, “Chronology, Deforestation, and ‘Collapse:’ Evidence vs. Faith in Rapa Nui Prehistory.” This article is useful because it clearly groups together two different ‘sides’ in the debate regarding Easter Islands collapse. Hunt and Lipo align themselves with Rainbird, and they oppose Jared Diamond, John Flenley, and Paul Bahn as a group.

Hunt, Terry L, and Carl P. Lipo. “Chronology, Deforestation, and ‘Collapse:’ Evidence vs. Faith in Rapa Nui Prehistory.” Rapa Nui Journal 21.2 (2007): 85-97. Academia. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

            In this article Hunt and Lipo argue that Easter Island was not inhabited until around 1200 AD and that rats were the main cause of deforestation. Hunt and Lipo attempt to discredit John Flenley and Paul Bahn’s works on Easter Island. Terry Hunt is from the University of Hawai’i and Carl Lipo is from California State University. I will use this article to determine how Easter Island was deforested, and in order to illustrate an opposing argument.

Koss, Lorelei. "Sustainability in a Differential Equations Course: A Case Study of Easter Island." International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science & Technology 42.4 (2011): 545-553. Computer Source. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

            This article takes a mathematical approach to Easter Island by using simple differential equations to investigate sustainability issues. Koss is a professor in the department of mathematics and science at Dickenson College. In order to teach differential equations with a real world scenario, Koss delineates various potential causes of the collapse of Easter Island, and uses differential equations to analyze them. I will use this source to show how disease may have contributed to Easter Island’s collapse.

Rainbird, Paul. "A Message for Our Future? The Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Ecodisaster and Pacific Island Environments." World Archaeology 33.3 (2002): 436-451. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct 2014.

            Paul Rainbird is a professor at the University of Whales. Rainbird’s article discusses deforestation, rats, religious beliefs, stone statues, and then primarily how the European’s arrival effected the Easter Islanders. He states that we cannot know what happened prior to the European’s arrival, and that the disease and material goods that the European’s introduced to the Easter Islanders was one of the main causes of their societies collapse. This paper will not be very useful because it is unorganized and is not supported with reliable evidence. Flenley and Bahn whom are quoted in this article respond to Rainbird in their own article, “Conflicting Views of Easter Island.” The back and forth between all these authors will be very useful for framing and making my argument.

Trachtman, Paul. “The Secrets of Easter Island.” Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian (2002). Web. 2 Oct. 2014.

            Paul Trachtman was the editor of the Smithsonian magazine when he wrote this piece. His article describes the culture on Easter Island through interviewing a descendant, and he also examines the previous and current land disputes on the Island. This article goes along with Jarred Diamonds arguments in terms of the information it provides, however, the only evidence it provides is supported through a verbally transmitted history. This article will not be very useful because it is about what could have been, not necessarily what was. I might use it to quote Trachtman’s personal interview with a surviving descendant because that could provide a useful insight to my readers.