Welcome to Easter Island!
– B. Sherriff

Why is there an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?
Plate tectonics and volcanoes.
– B. Sherriff

Easter Island is actually formed by three volcanoes. Bacause of plate tectonics, these formed in “approximately the same place” over millions of years…making Easter Island quite different from the long, drawn-out string of volcanoes that make up the Hawaiian Islands.
– B. Sherriff

Thor Hyerdahl was wrong – about a number of things!
– B. Sherriff

The last “true-blood” Rapa Nui woman died in 1946…but the language and culture lives on, with a significant population inhabiting mainland Chile.
– B. Sherriff

What’s the difference between a Maoi and a Ahu?
The Ahu are the platforms that the statues (Maoi) stand upon.
The mysterious Moai were powerful ancestors often chiefs placed on a platform (Ahu) to protect a village.
– B. Sherriff

In 1774, the island was rediscovered during the second voyage of Captain James Cook. One of the expedition’s artists was William Hodges, who painteded this famous watercolor. He’s one of few who saw the Moai still standing.

Rana Raraku Quarry (where all the Moai were carved) has 397 Moai in various stages of carving…carving Moai was a business !!!
– B. Sherriff

Contrary to popular belief, the Rapa Nui did not cut down all the trees and move the Moai along on rollers. Instead they carved them with a “keel” and “walked them along”…like moving a heavy appliance
– B. Sherriff

Why did the Moai get toppled?
War.
– B. Sherriff

The native trees did get wiped out…primarily because of clearing for agriculture, wood used for cremations, and the introduction of rats.
– B. Sherriff

The adoption of “Birdmen Culture” (1600-1867) ended tribal warfare and the local “military industrial complex”…and in turn that ended when Christianity arrived…
– B. Sherriff

Something rarely seen…Barbara up at the crack of dawn!
– B. Sherriff

Yes, the glaciers of Patagonia are impressive!
– B. Sherriff

Barbara Sherriff “Moai and volcanoes of Easter Island…and Patagonian glaciers”
by Andrew Bryant, 23 May 2019.

The Club’s very own Barbara Sherriff, well-known for her globetrotting adventures, recently returned from another epic voyage – this time to Easter Island and the glaciers of Patagonia!

Always the consumate educator, Barbara provided a hugely informative and highly amusing talk, deftly switching from tidbits about geology (did you know the Moai all wore “hats” of red volcanic scoria carved from a single quarry at Puna Pau?) to social commentary (why we could all benefit from adopting aspects of  “Bird Man Culture“).

In turn, we learned about:

• Why there’s an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
• Where the Rapa Nui people came from
• What happened to them
• What the giant statues represent
• The difference between a Moai and an Ahu
• How the Moai were made
• How they were moved
• Why they were toppled
• What happened to the native trees

Whew.  And if that weren’t enough, we were then taken on a side-trip to the glaciers of Chile and Argentina, where we got to witness something truly amazing…Barbara up at sunrise…

…and this…