Rapa Nui (Easter Island) monument (ahu) locations explained by freshwater sources

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 1; p. e0210409
• Main Authors: DiNapoli, Robert J, Lipo, Carl P, Brosnan, Tanya, Hunt, Terry L, Hixon, Sean, Morrison, Alex E, Becker, Matthew
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01-01-2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agricultural resources; Anthropology, Physical; Archaeology; Behavior; Biology and Life Sciences; Coastal environments; Communities; Construction; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Fresh Water; Humans; Hypotheses; Islands; Marine resources; Memorials & monuments; Modelling; Physical Sciences; Polynesia; Seepage; Social Sciences; Statuary; Water Supply; Polynesia; New Zealand; Easter Island; United States > US; California; Chile; Oceania; Gotland (island)
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210409

Explaining the processes underlying the emergence of monument construction is a major theme in contemporary anthropological archaeology, and recent studies have employed spatially-explicit modeling to explain these patterns. Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) is famous for its elaborate ritual architecture, particularly numerous monumental platforms (ahu) and statuary (moai). To date, however, we lack explicit modeling to explain spatial and temporal aspects of monument construction. Here, we use spatially-explicit point-process modeling to explore the potential relations between ahu construction locations and subsistence resources, namely, rock mulch agricultural gardens, marine resources, and freshwater sources-the three most critical resources on Rapa Nui. Through these analyses, we demonstrate the central importance of coastal freshwater seeps for precontact populations. Our results suggest that ahu locations are most parsimoniously explained by distance from freshwater sources, in particular coastal seeps, with important implications for community formation and inter-community competition in precontact times.