Island at the Edge of the World

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, The Last Island on Earth, 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 Daniken 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.

Autorentext
Mike Pitts is an archaeologist, journalist and author of multiple books on archaeology. He has written for The Times, Telegraph, Sunday Times, Observer and Guardian, and many magazines including New Scientist and BBC History. He edited British Archaeology magazine for twenty years and continues to conduct original archaeological research which has been published in several peer-reviewed journals. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Klappentext

'The true and fascinating story of Easter Island and its amazing statues' KEN FOLLETT
'Revelatory... fascinating... [and] wholly convincing' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Compelling . a magisterial history' NEW YORK TIMES

Where did they come from? How did they get there? Why did they carve the island's colossal statues? And what happened to the civilisation that raised them?

For centuries, Easter Island - or Rapa Nui - has been cloaked in mystery and speculation.

Now, in his revelatory investigation, archaeologist Mike Pitts unearths a powerful new history of the island, its people and the events that led to its downfall. Bringing to light the latest scientific and archaeological discoveries, Pitts also revives the work of pioneering anthropologist Katherine Routledge, whose priceless research has long been ignored.

Bold, surprising and utterly gripping, Island at the Edge of the World overturns everything we thought we knew about Rapa Nui and where the blame for its devastation truly lies.