Rapa Nui, more commonly known as Easter Island, is one of the most intriguing places in human history. Its massive stone statues (the moai) and the islanders’ intriguing culture have inspired countless theories about the island’s mysterious past. But the big statues aren’t even the most interesting thing on the island.
Historians and archaeologists are more interested in two long-standing debates: whether the island’s inhabitants experienced an ecological collapse before European contact, and if Polynesians made trans-Pacific voyages to the Americas before the arrival of Europeans.
A groundbreaking genetic study now sheds new light on both topics. Using genetic data from ancient Rapa Nui individuals, the research finds that the Rapanui people were far more resilient than previously thought — and likely also had contact with Native Americans.
The “Ecocide” hypothesis: A collapse that never was?
The island Rapa Nui was home to one of the most isolated populations in history. The island’s inhabitants endured famines, epidemics, environmental collapse, and slave raids, and saw their population crash on more than one occasion.
Europeans didn’t come to the island until 1722. They found a society of around 3,000 people and were stunned to see an entirely unique culture. However, the islanders’ culture was essentially destroyed in the 1800s when Peruvian slavers came, looking for captives to sell. Then further change was enforced when religious colonists came in and converted the island to Christianity.
Researchers studying Rapa Nui found evidence suggesting that even before the Europeans arrived, the population was in a downward spiral. This “ecocide” theory posits that the Rapanui, in their pursuit of constructing the moai and expanding their population, overexploited the island’s natural resources. Deforestation, depletion of food sources, and subsequent internal strife supposedly led to a catastrophic population collapse in the 1600s, sending the Rapanui people down a dark road of warfare, famine, and cannibalism.
However, the new genomic research tells a different story. The study analyzed the genomes of 15 ancient Rapanui individuals, whose remains dated to between 1670 and 1950 CE. The findings revealed that the Rapanui did not experience a severe population bottleneck during the 1600s, as the ecocide theory suggests. Instead, the data show a steady population increase after the island was first settled around 1250 CE.
This genetic evidence suggests that, while the people did experience severe environmental challenges (such as deforestation), this did not lead to a population collapse. Instead, the Rapanui demonstrated remarkable resilience.
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What makes this finding so significant is that it confirms what some archaeologists and anthropologists have suspected for years. The Polynesians, legendary seafarers known for their navigational skills, likely made the voyage to South America long before European ships ventured into the Pacific.
There’s substantial evidence that Polynesian people discovered South America way before Columbus. After all, 10% of Easter Island was used for growing sweet potatoes, a species that originated in the Americas.
Polynesian navigators traversed the vast Pacific Ocean, relying on their deep knowledge of the stars, ocean currents, and bird migrations. These ancient mariners were able to locate and settle islands scattered across thousands of kilometers of open sea. The discovery of Rapa Nui itself was part of this extraordinary wave of exploration that carried Polynesians to the farthest reaches of the Pacific.
What makes the new research so exciting is that it pushes the boundaries of what we thought Polynesians were capable of. The discovery of indigenous American genetic markers in the genomes of ancient Rapanui individuals provides the first clear proof that Polynesians did indeed make contact with the Americas.
The genetic evidence suggests that the contact between Polynesians and indigenous South Americans was not a chance encounter. A genetic admixture event — where indigenous American DNA entered the Polynesian gene pool — occurred sometime between 1250 and 1430 CE. This timeline coincides with the height of Polynesian seafaring when long-distance voyages were regularly undertaken to discover and settle new lands.
It is likely that these early navigators reached the western coast of South America, possibly modern-day Chile or Peru, where they made contact with indigenous populations. The genetic data indicates that the indigenous American ancestry in the Rapanui people is most closely related to populations from the Central Andes, supporting the idea that Polynesians landed on the coast, met Andean peoples, and either intermarried or exchanged individuals between groups before returning to Rapa Nui.
Were There Return Trips?
One of the most tantalizing questions raised by this research is whether the Polynesians, after reaching South America, made return trips to Rapa Nui. The Polynesians certainly had sufficiently advanced navigational skills to allow for two-way voyages. Oral traditions from other Polynesian islands tell of round-trip voyages covering thousands of kilometers. They made these trips to retrieve people, animals, or resources. However, direct evidence of return trips between Rapa Nui and South America was pretty elusive.
What the genetic evidence does show is that the admixture between South Americans and the Polynesian population of Rapa Nui occurred in a narrow time frame. This suggests that this was a single, significant event rather than the result of ongoing interaction over centuries. It’s possible that while Polynesians made it to South America and back, the voyages were not routine or frequent.
Still, the very fact that such a voyage occurred — whether a one-way or round-trip journey — demonstrates the extraordinary capabilities of the Polynesian navigators. Their ability to sail across vast, open ocean spaces without modern instruments remains one of the greatest achievements in human exploration.
But how did they do it? And what was the nature of their contact? Genetic evidence can’t tell us all of that, unfortunately.
A Resilient Rapanui population
The ecocide hypothesis was the dominant one for years. It was a compelling cautionary story: a population on an isolated island used up all its resources and then collapsed.
Yet studies are casting some doubt on the story of a population collapse. Earlier this year, a paper using radiocarbon and archaeological evidence also concluded that the Rapanui were more resilient than previously thought.
“We specifically reject the hypothesis that such changes in Rapa Nui resulted in population collapse in the 1600s, before European contact. Instead, our results support that the Rapanui population was resilient despite a changing environment,” the researchers conclude in their study.
For the people of Rapa Nui, this research is more than just a scientific discovery — it’s a chance to reclaim a piece of their history. The study’s findings confirm that the ancestors of today’s Rapanui were not isolated islanders but part of a broader network of explorers who bridged the Pacific Ocean and withstood great adversity.
The research also contributes to ongoing efforts to repatriate ancestral remains to Rapa Nui. The main genetic evidence came from 15 ancient individuals who were in museums abroad. The findings provide support for the Rapanui community’s campaign to have their ancestors returned to the island from museums abroad.
Lastly, this is also a story about the progress of science. This study was only possible thanks to advances in genomic technology. The ability to sequence ancient DNA from human remains has opened new frontiers in our understanding of prehistory.
As more genomic data becomes available, it’s likely that other instances of pre-European contact between distant populations will be uncovered. Already, the discovery of Polynesian chickens in pre-Columbian archaeological sites in Chile suggests that the exchange between Polynesians and indigenous Americans extended beyond just people — it might have included the transfer of plants, animals, and technology as well.
The study “Ancient Rapanui genomes reveal resilience and pre-European contact with the Americas” was published in Nature.