There are, however, problems with almost all aspects of this story, say Hunt and his colleague Carl Lipo of California State University in Long Beach. Take the idea that the population was once much larger than the low estimates made by early visitors. “People say, ‘Look at all these statues, there must have been armies of people to do this,'” says Lipo. Many conclude that by Roggeveen’s time the society had already collapsed. “But that is just absolute speculation,” Lipo says.
Attempts to estimate past population numbers have been based on the remains of prehistoric settlements on the island. Totals range from a few thousand to 20,000. It is an inexact science because no one knows how many people lived in each house, and not all of the settlements have been well studied. Besides, recent archaeological analyses suggest a different conclusion. Last year, two papers, one by Hunt and Lipo and the other by Britton Shepardson of the University of Hawaii gave the first thorough analyses of Rapa Nui’s networks of prehistoric paths. The researchers think the islanders used these paths to move their statues across the island from the central quarry at Rano Raraku (see Map). Hunt and Lipo suggest the roads were built at different times by different groups of people. There is no evidence of an “interstate system”, but rather a number of separate roads. “We suggest this indicates smaller groups working on their own,” says Hunt – perhaps different kin groups rather than workers operating under the control of a single authority.