Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg
Director, UCLA Rock Art Archive
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA

Easter Island, more correctly known as Rapa Nui, is a small, remote island in the Southeast Pacific discovered and settled by Polynesian mariners ca. AD 1000. It was rediscovered by the Dutch in 1722 and, since then, has captured the world’s attention and admiration. Basic to that phenomenon are hundreds of perplexing monolithic statues (moai) dotting the Rapa Nui landscape. This presentation celebrates four decades of community archaeology, tackles persistent speculations about settlement origins and moai meaning but also raises a new question: Why is the Rapa Nui past important to those of us living in the modern world?

This event will be hybrid – please join us in-person at 1201 9th St. in Manhattan Beach, or via Zoom.