Island at the edge of the world : the forgotten history of Easter Island / Mike Pitts.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pitts, Mike (Archaeologist), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Easter Island--History.

Easter Island.

Easter Island--Discovery and exploration.

Easter Island--Civilization.

Easter Island--Antiquities.

Physical Description:

xix, 360 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), maps (some colour) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London, UK ; New York, NY : Bloomsbury , 2025.

Summary:

"A brilliant new account of one of the world's most remote, mysterious and misunderstood places: Easter Island. More than 1200 miles from the nearest inhabited island and 2200 miles from mainland Chile, Easter Island is one of the most inaccessible places on the planet, made famous by its thousand huge statues. How people came to live there and what happened to them has been the cause of heated debate. Now, in this compelling and deeply researched new book, we find out the answers. For too long, people have imposed their own theories on this extraordinary place and its inhabitants. Thor Heyerdahl, after his famous Kon-Tiki expedition, claimed the island had been discovered by light-skinned people from South America, believing only they could have been capable of travelling there and building the statues. Erich von Daeniken took it to greater extremes, saying the statues had been carved by aliens. More recently, Jared Diamond's theory of ecocide - that Islanders destroyed their world by cutting down all the trees - has become popular as a vital message about the need to conserve our planet's resources. None of this survives scrutiny, or captures the island's inspiring, and tragic, real story. With new research, local indigenous histories and rediscovered historical sources, archaeologist Mike Pitts creates a fascinating and comprehensive portrait of Easter Island - and reveals how the truth is even more remarkable than the fiction." --Publisher description.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

YBP CIP upgrade

ISBN:

9781526667250

1526667258

OCLC:

1453193535

Publisher Number:

90102586267

CIPO000236164