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Easter Island) EXPLAINING SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF ENERGY INVESTMENT IN THE PREHISTORIC STATUARY OF RAPA NUI (EASTER ISLAND) A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ANTHROPOLOGY DECEMBER 2006 By Britton Leif Shepardson Dissertation Committee: Michael W. Graves, Chairperson James M. Bayman Nina L. Etkin L. Thomas Ramsey Mark W. Allen Thegn N. Ladefoged We certify that we have read this dissertation and that, in our opinion, it is satisfactory in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology. DISSERTATION COMMITTEE ______________________________ Chairperson ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ ii © 2006, Britton L. Shepardson iii For my mom and dad iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to my colleagues, friends, and family that have made this research possible. My high school teacher Nina Goss and undergraduate professor Harvey Wichman are to thank for my interests in writing and research. They were the first instructors that made me realize how important a teacher can be. My dissertation committee has been a reliable source of support and guidance. I appreciate the time that Nina Etkin and Tom Ramsey have taken with me even though my interests may be outside of their immediate fields of expertise. Tom Ramsey has offered nothing but enthusiasm and encouragement in my work, and Nina Etkin has often helped with difficult career decisions. Mark Allen first introduced me to the world of academic archaeology and research topics in Oceania. He has always provided sound, honest advice and as my first professor of archaeology eight years ago, he clearly made a lasting first impression. Thegn Ladefoged has taken a genuine interest in my progress and has offered a helpful critical review of this work. Jim Bayman has offered constant encouragement and has helped me to see how my work fits in with other research perspectives in archaeology. I also thank Terry Hunt for teaching a critical approach to research questions that apply to Rapa Nui and the rest of the Pacific. Terry offered me my first chance to travel to Rapa Nui as a teaching assistant on an archaeological field school. Michael Graves has well-exceeded his duties as committee chairperson. He has helped me to become a better writer, a better field researcher, and he has shown me the v importance and rewards of public outreach in archaeology. He has helped me to publish, to find funding, and to find job opportunities. But above all else, Michael stands out for always encouraging me to pursue my own interests. I am grateful for the generosity and warm welcome that the entire Rapa Nui community has expressed to me. Through their hard work and companionship, Francisco Torres and Verónica Vergara have made my time and research on the island enjoyable and productive. Claudia Peñafiel, Rogelio Paoa, Pelayo Tuki, Pota Paté, and the entire Padre Sebastián Englert Anthropological Museum staff have offered me their friendship and insight for years. I am very lucky to have the friends I have. They have shown endless support and constantly help me to approach my own research in new ways. Thanks to Jesse Stephen, Ari Levine, Jacce Mikulanec, Dale Simpson Jr., Alex Morrison, Ethan Cochrane, and Derek Robinson for many enlightening conversations. Ethan Levine and Stacey Shepard kindly allowed me to run many hours of computer simulation on their workstation. My graduate education and several experiences in the field were made possible by generous support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the Santa Fe Institute Complex Systems Summer School, the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, the University of Hawai‘i Foundation, the University of Hawai‘i Graduate Student Organization, and the University of Hawai‘i College of Social Sciences Travel Funds for Professional Improvement. My parents, Fred and Julia, and my brother, Todd, have shown unconditional support and interest in all of my research and adventures. I cannot imagine being inspired to complete this work without them. vi ABSTRACT This dissertation offers a quantitative analysis of prehistoric Rapa Nui (Easter Island) statuary and an evolutionary interpretation for spatial and temporal patterns of energy investment in statuary. Patterns of energy investment in statuary are considered in the context of cultural as well as environmental variables. Building on previous quantitative seriation techniques, a new seriation technique (including a new algorithm) is implemented, incorporating radiocarbon/obsidian hydration dates from associated ceremonial sites, to interpret a chronology of construction events for an island-wide survey of 712 prehistoric megalithic statues. The resulting chronology is analyzed statistically and compared to previous chronologies established for other forms of cultural elaboration as well as for settlement sites. To further test the resulting chronology, and to understand the potential relationship between prehistoric environmental variability and energy investment in statuary, an agent-based computer simulation is presented. A geographic information system (GIS), drawing from previous studies to parameterize Rapa Nui’s paleoenvironment, provides initial conditions and basic rules for environmental variables and islander objectives in the simulation. The simulation offers intriguing results and suggests avenues for future research. Using relatively simple rules and variables, simulation results present justification and explanation for patterns of energy investment hypothesized from chronological seriation of statuary. Evolutionary archaeological and evolutionary ecological interpretations vii suggest potential benefits of a heavy expenditure of energy in cultural elaboration (such as statuary) in relation to environmental variability and population dynamics. An extrapolation of these evolutionary explanations presents an intriguing new line of research regarding environmental variability, cultural elaboration, social status differentiation, and an evolutionary model for population sloughing or “cultural autotomy”. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments........................................................................................................... v Abstract......................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................. xi List of Figures............................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Aesthetics........................................................................................................................ 2 Technology ..................................................................................................................... 5 Labor/Energy .................................................................................................................. 7 Perspectives on Rapa Nui Prehistory............................................................................ 10 Collapse?....................................................................................................................... 14 Selected Topics in Rapa Nui Prehistory ....................................................................... 16 Methods......................................................................................................................... 22 Dissertation Summary................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 2. Optimal Path Seriation ................................................................................... 28 Commonalities in Seriation........................................................................................... 29 Seriating Rapa Nui Statuary.......................................................................................... 34 Sample Size................................................................................................................... 34 Classification of Statuary.............................................................................................. 40 Resolution of Temporal Analysis ................................................................................. 45 Absolute Dating ............................................................................................................ 49 Seriating Ford Mustangs............................................................................................... 50 Hypothetical Data ......................................................................................................... 55 Dress Fashion................................................................................................................ 56 Discussion..................................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 3. Seriating Moai................................................................................................ 63 Data Collection ............................................................................................................
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