Easter Island Apocalypse
07/11/19 • 18 min
The world's most impressive seafarers and statue builders were reduced from a thriving community of many thousands to just 111 traumatised survivors. These Rapa Nui people were the victims of their harsh environment, disease, enslavement and gun toting Europeans, Americans and Peruvians. All this after they had already turned against their gods, toppling many of the famous Moai head statues.
MAIN SOURCES/FURTHER READING
T. Hunt & C. Lipo - The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island
D. Porteous – The Modernization of Easter Island
T. Heyerdahl – Aku Aku
M. Levison et al – The Settlement of Polynesia
J. Diamond - Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
A. Mieth & H-R. Bork - Humans, climate or introduced rats – which is to blame for the woodland destruction on prehistoric Rapa Nui. http://www.marklynas.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Mieth-Bork_JAS_Rats-Humans.pdf
P. Bahn & J. Flenley – Easter Island: Earth Island
The world's most impressive seafarers and statue builders were reduced from a thriving community of many thousands to just 111 traumatised survivors. These Rapa Nui people were the victims of their harsh environment, disease, enslavement and gun toting Europeans, Americans and Peruvians. All this after they had already turned against their gods, toppling many of the famous Moai head statues.
MAIN SOURCES/FURTHER READING
T. Hunt & C. Lipo - The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island
D. Porteous – The Modernization of Easter Island
T. Heyerdahl – Aku Aku
M. Levison et al – The Settlement of Polynesia
J. Diamond - Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
A. Mieth & H-R. Bork - Humans, climate or introduced rats – which is to blame for the woodland destruction on prehistoric Rapa Nui. http://www.marklynas.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Mieth-Bork_JAS_Rats-Humans.pdf
P. Bahn & J. Flenley – Easter Island: Earth Island
Previous Episode
The First Crusade
"Deus Vult" The First Crusade, called by the Pope in the name of God, contained the horrors of massacres and cannibalism. However, it is one of history's most misunderstood conflicts. Properly understanding this subject within its context can only help Christian-Muslim relations.
MAIN SOURCES/FURTHER READING:
J. Riley-Smith – The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam
J. Phillips - Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades
S. Runciman – A History of the Crusades
C. Tyerman – The invention of the Crusades
Next Episode
Should we morally judge historical figures by today's moral standards?
It is all too tempting to judge those in the past by today's moral norms. Do Abraham Lincoln's racist statements nullify any of his achievements? Should people who did things we nowadays find morally repugnant be condemned when they knew no better? Are any actions intrinsically morally good or bad?
MAIN SOURCES/FURTHER READING
J. D. Velleman – Foundations for moral relativism
M. Fricker - The Relativism of Blame and Williams’s Relativism of Distance
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23772194 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/dont-judge-works-of-the-past-by-todays-moral-standardsIf you like this episode you’ll love
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