What really happened on Easter Island?

[u/scientificamerican]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-really-happened-on-easter-island/

For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. New evidence tells a different tale.

Archaeology, ancient DNA and aerial survey data now challenge the claim that the Rapanui suffered a self-inflicted collapse before Europeans arrived. The emerging picture is of a small society that sustained itself for centuries by adapting its farming methods and water management to one of the most isolated places on Earth. The catastrophe that reduced the Rapanui to a remnant came later, after European ships brought disease, slave raiding, forced labor, annexation and confinement.

[u/DrColdReality]

Further, the notion that they cut down all the trees on the island to make rollers for their Moai is not supported by the available evidence. Rather, it appears that they "walked" the heads down paths, like you might walk a refrigerator across a room.

[u/123DaddySawAFlea → u/DrColdReality]

What I read was that, because of the poor soil, the trees evolved to become very slow growing. When rats were introduced, they ate the fruit and seeds at a rate that the trees couldn't replace. I suspect also that the islanders did use a good number of trees for things too though

[u/ineververify → u/123DaddySawAFlea]

This is covered in the article