Student Work Samples:

Easter Island / Maya Civilization Comparative Essay

by Dipesh Patel

The story of Easter Island and the Mayan Civilization are different and alike in many ways. each one had similar and different accomplishments and achievements before their steep decline.

Easter Island's civilization began during the 15th century when Polynesians crashed on the island during a storm or had a misvoyage. Easter Island was a very small island and was remote from the rest of the world. It is located in the Pacific Ocean 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America and 1,250 miles from the nearest inhabitable land of Pitcairn Island. The group that came numbered only about 30 to 50 members and they discovered a world with very few resources.

Because of its remoteness the island had only a few species of plants and animals. The waters around the island had very few fish so the island did not have much food to offer for the first settlers. The Polynesians found later that the climate was too severe for semi-tropical plants such as breadfruit and coconut and , therefore, they were restricted to a diet based largely on sweet potatoes and chickens which they brought. Since the cultivation of sweet potatoes and raising of chickens was very effortless in a way, it left plenty of time for other activities.

As their population increased, closely related households formed clans, each with its own center for religious and ceremonial activities. Each clan was headed by a chief, unlike the Mayans who had a king for each city they built. The Polynesians built large stone platforms (ahu) for burials, ancestor worship, and to commemorate past clan chiefs and they also built statues on the ahu. This form of organization created competition among the clans to build more and more statues. Many of the stone statues were 20 feet tall and weighed several tons. The statues that were built were moved to different locations with tree trunks used as rollers. As population peaked at 7,000 in 1550, more clans were formed causing an increase in competition. By the sixteenth century, hundreds of ahu were created and over 600 statues were built. The usage of resources in such a way created many problems.

Trees were cut to provide clearings for agriculture, fuel for heating and cooking, construction material for household goods, pole and thatch houses, and canoes for fishing. The main use of the trees was that the tree trunks were used as rollers to move the statues. Since there were many clans and a lot of competition, the trees were cut down at a rapid rate. As a result, the island was almost completely deforested by 1600. The building and rolling of the statues came to an abrupt halt and many were stranded at the quarry. Many were forced to abandon building houses from timber and move into caves. The paper mulberry tree was wiped out so fishing nets could no longer be made and clothing could not be made either. Without trees, without canoes, and without enough food, the islanders were trapped in their self-destroyed environment. With the decreasing resources, the Polynesians turned to almost permanent warfare. Many turned to cannibalism. They destroyed each others ahu and the statues were pulled down. Only a few descendants remained when the Europeans came in the 18th century. When they were asked how the statues were moved from the quarry, they could no longer remember and said that they "walked across the island."

Despite the environmental collapse of the civilization, the Polynesians did have some achievements. They constructed one of the most advanced societies in the world from the technology and extremely limited resources they had. Some of the ahu that they built have sophisticated astronomical alignments, usually towards one of the solstices or the equinox.

The Mayan civilization, just like Easter Island, created one of the most extraordinary societies of its type anywhere in the world. The civilization was developed in what are now parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras, which are mainly in a dense lowland tropical jungle. The earliest settlements in the area date from about 2500 BC. After 600 AD the Mayans entered their most spectacular period.

Much of how the Mayan civilization provided food in the jungle is unknown, but it is believed that they used a swidden system, which involved the clearing of a patch of jungle with stone axes during the dry season between December and March and then setting fire to the area just before the start of the rainy season when maize and beans would have been planted with a digging stick to be harvested in the autumn. This system is used in tropical areas, but only provides food for a small population. Therefore, it is believed that they lived in small, shifting settlements and only coming together at ceremonial centers. Unlike the Polynesians, the Mayans were mainly corn harvesters.

The Mayan society was governed by a religious caste obsessed with the intricacies of their calendar and astronomical observations. The Mayans discovered more astronomical things than did the Polynesians of Easter Island. The Maya made accurate calculations on the phases and positions of the sun and moon and planets, too. They also created a highly accurate and complex calendar, based on a fifty-two year cycle counting from the year 3114 BC. With their resources (limestone rock) they built huge pyramids, often aligned towards significant astronomical points, and had large stelae inscribed on them. This form of picture writing, hieroglyphics, was their writing system. It was far more complicated than the Easter Island civilization.

Unlike the Polynesians, the Maya region at its peak reached five million in an area which now supports only a few thousand. The intensive cultivation system could not support the population. Too much was demanded from it. Just like the Polynesians, they cleared trees for agriculture which caused intensive erosion to occur. The trees were only used for agriculture, but for fuel, construction materials, and for making huge amounts of lime plaster for ceremonial buildings. The soil erosion caused by deforestation reduced crop yields. Food production to support the population was declining. The elite tried to increase production from the peasant cultivators, leading to internal revolt. Just like the Polynesians, conflict and warfare resulted among the cities over the declining resources. This led to the fall of the empire. The Maya were able to build a complex society capable of great cultural and intellectual achievements, but ended up destroying what they had created, just as the Polynesians did.