In a thousand year, people competed to own resources on the Easter Island. The events on Easter Island has become not only received wisdom, but a dark warning about a possible fate for our entire planet. When Rapa Nui was colonised. Results of radiocarbon dating of charcoal from a new excavation near Anakena, the earliest known traces of humans on the island, were published earlier this year. They push forward the arrival of the first Polynesian settlers by some 400 years, from an estimated AD 800 to AD 1200. Although there is no evidence to say how many colonisers there were, it is likely that numbers were small.
Roggeveen reported few trees and none taller than about 3 meters. The soil analysis suggests an estimated 16 million palms once stood on the island. Deforestation seems to have begun as soon as the settlers arrived around 1200, and was complete by about 1500. The reason why the islanders wiped out their forest has long nagged at researchers and is still open to dispute. Some palms may indeed have been cut down to assist in moving the statues, though Hunt points out that they would not have been ideal for the job since they have very soft interiors. Other trees were used for firewood, and land was cleared for agriculture.