EISP Statue Conservation Initiative and DATASHARE
Dear Friends of EISP,
As 2009 draws to a close it is a pleasure to post our second letter from the director. As most of our visitors know, the Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) is an original archaeological field survey established in 1982 to document the monolithic statues (moai). The objective of EISP is original scientific research and publication. Our academic bibliography is extensive but, as the scope of our work grew, so did our collected data. In 1999, we began intensive push to digitize our records. In 2001, our innovative, localized, and visualized topographic and archaeological map of Rano Raraku statue quarry became the organizing and presentation tool for our database. Our project has steadily expanded to include External Collections and an extensive file of ethnographica and original artwork by EISP co-Director Cristián Arévalo Pakarati and other Rapa Nui artists. Our sister project is the non-profit Mana Gallery, which celebrated a gala, island-style opening in November. The gallery hosts our EISP field office and exhibits and supports our associated artists. Please visit in person or at www.managallery.org
DATASHARE is our newest venture. It will provide access to associated researchers, conservators and others working to preserve the fragile and irreplaceable patrimony of Rapa Nui. DATASHARE is part of Phase 1 of the Easter Island Statue Conservation Initiative, generously funded by a grant from the Site Preservation Task Force of the Archaeological Institute of America. According to Larry Coben, co-chair of the Task Force, EISP exemplifies “the model of preservation the AIA seeks to promote.” Phase 1 is opening the EISP database to CONAF Oficina Isla de Pascua and our collaborators, including Mónica Bahamondez P. of the Departamento Nacional de Conservación y Restauración (DNCR) and Christian Fischer of UCLA. Phase 2 will incorporate the Consejo Monumentos Nacionales Isla de Pascua and the Municipalidad Isla de Pascua. DATASHARE will provide a permanent, accessible home for EISP data, advance the preservation of Rapa Nui patrimony, and permit informed conservation managment.
The coming year promises new and exciting adventures, and we are looking forward to the beginning in March of the first of three planned field seasons and the on-going preparation of our Rano Raraku Atlas.
AIA Conservation Project Reconnaissance
Field Work
In June, 2009, Christian Fischer, Research Associate of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA and Mónica Bahamondez P., Centro Nacional de Conservación y Restauración joined Jo Anne Van Tilburg and Cristián Arévalo Pakarati (of EISP) in the field on Rapa Nui. Our immediate goal was a fact-finding and reconnaissance field study that would acquaint our colleagues on the AIA Project with the island sites and objects that are target concerns of our upcoming conservation work.
Christian Fischer, Mónica Bahamondez P. and Jo Anne Van Tilburg in the Rano Raraku quarry with statues 'Mama' and 'Papa.'
In the interior of Rano Raraku quarry, EISP has mapped and documented every statue in each of their various carving phases, as well as the independent histories of the individual quarries. Two statues, famously dubbed “Papa” and “Mama” by Katherine Pease Routledge, co-leader of the Mana Expedition to Easter Island, 1919, were the immediate focus of our attention. We studied specific issues of stone faulting and breakage, and planned a strategy for environmental monitoring, which will be carried out during 2009-2010. [Read More...]
Hoa Hakananai’a Laser Scan Project
September 2007
Background, Rationale and Goals
Laser scannning Hoa Hakananai’a at the British Museum. Photo by J. Van Tilburg.
To date, Van Tilburg and the Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) have inventoried 887 monolithic statues (moai) and compiled a metric database buttressed by 24,000 original and archived images. Some 35% of the known statues are located on or in direct relation to ceremonial sites called image ahu (Martinsson – Wallin 1994: Appendix 1 gives 164 image ahu; Van Tilburg 1986; Van Tilburg and Vargas C. 1998).
Rano Raraku, a volcanic crater on the island’s eastern plain, was the source of the sideromelane (basaltic) tuff from which 95% of the statues were carved. This source is irrefutable as there are 397 in situ statues, of which 141 in various stages of completion have recently been mapped by EISP in the interior quarries (Van Tilburg 2005; www.eisp.org). Much rarer statue lithologies are basalt (hawaiite lavas) from three named regions; trachyte and ‘red basaltic scoria’ or ‘red scoriaceous lava’ (also used as pukao or ‘topknots’ that were placed on the heads of about 75-100 statues).
There are only 20 statues (portable and non-portable) now in the EISP database which were carved of basalt. Of these, 7 are in museum collections. The British Museum holds two basalt statues, both of which are of central and very great significance to furthering our understanding of Rapa Nui history. One of them (1869.10-5.1) is re-carved on its dorsal side with bas-relief and incised petroglyphs of great iconographic significance. This re-carving is unique in its style, detail, and expertise and quality of execution. Four other statues, including 1869.10-6.1 (Moai Hava), have incised petroglyphs of lesser distinction but within clearly defined, limited typological categories. Another 30 statues still in situ on the island have applied decorations of similar styles.
The AIA selects Easter Island as its second Site Preservation project
January 5, 2009
Efforts will protect and preserve Easter Island’s Rapa Nui Moai statues
Boston – The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), North America’s oldest and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology, has selected the monolithic sculptures (moai) of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile, and national park as its second site preservation project. With a $94,000 grant to the Easter Island Statue Project from the organization’s AIA Site Preservation Task Force, the Project will develop stone preservation techniques to arrest the rapid deterioration of these statues as a result of the fragile nature of their volcanic stone, climate change, and tourism. The Easter Island Statue Project is directed by UCLA archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg and co-directed by Cristían Arévalo Pakarati.
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The Secrets of Easter Island
The more we learn about the remote island from archaeologists and researchers, the more intriguing it becomes
By Paul Trachtman
Smithsonian magazine, March 2002Posted on January 13th, 2010 by Julia Newbold |
Upcoming lectures by Dr. Van Tilburg
Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg will be giving the following lectures at the AIA and University of Pennsylvania in the coming year. Topics include Site Preservation Practices as well as a general overview of the Easter Island Statue Project.
January 7th, 2010
Workshop: Lessons from the Field: Pursuing Best Practices in Site Preservation
111th AIA and APA Joint Annual Meeting
Anaheim, California
Dr. Van Tilburg will discuss methods used in preserving the moai on Easter Island.
May 5th, 2010
Great Archaeological Discoveries: The Easter Island Statue Project
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dr. Van Tilburg will give an overview of the project.
Posted on December 8th, 2009 by Julia Newbold |
AIA Workshop Proposal Annual Meeting 2010
6-9 January 2010 Anaheim, California
Posted on December 8th, 2009 by Julia Newbold |
Feature in Archaeology Magazine
The laser scanning of Hoa Hakananai’a is featured in the cover story of Archaeology, May/June 2009 issue. Read the full text on the magazine website.
Posted on May 15th, 2009 by EISP Staff |
Easter Island: Archaeology, Ecology, and Culture
by Jo Anne Van Tilburg
Foreword by John Mack
Hardcover, 232 pages
30 color and 124 B&W illustrations
Smithsonian Press (October 1995)
Order a signed copy from EISP: $25
Since Easter Island (Rapa Nui) was first “discovered” nearly 300 years ago, its people, culture and monolithic statues have been seen as an unsolvable riddle. At the heart of the so-called mystery stand the gigantic moai. How were they moved? What do they mean? Over more than twelve years, nearly 1000 statues have been measured, drawn and photgraphed by Jo Anne Van Tilburg and a team of colleagues. In this ground-breaking title, the author draws on the insights that have been gained, to examine Rapa Nui prehistory in the context of new understandings of ecology and culture.
Posted on April 17th, 2009 by EISP Staff |