That question can be answered by analyzing and dating the pollen trapped in the layers of sediment in swamps and ponds.
Pollen analysis shows that during the early years of Polynesian settlement,
Easter was not a wasteland at all.
Instead,
a subtropical forest of woody bushes and tree,
including the rope-yielding hauhau tree,
towered over a ground layer of shrubs, herbs, ferns, and grasses.
The most common tree was the Easter Island plam,
a relative of the Chilean palm,
a relative of the Chilean palm,
which grows up to 82 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter.
This tall palm would have been ideal for transporting and erecting statues and constructing large canoes.