Island at the Edge of the World (The Forgotten History of Easter Island) - Mike Pitts

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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 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.