When Dutch sailors landed on Easter Island, they found a warlike people recovering from anarchy and cannibalism. What had gone wrong with a civilization that had lived in peace for nearly a thousand years? In this program, Claudio Cristino, the island's resident archaeologist; William Liller, of the Easter Island Foundation; Patricia Vargas Casanova, of the Easter Island Studies Institute at the University of Chile; and others offer their views on moai, rongorongo tablets, the Birdman Cult, and the devastating effects of overpopulation, to provide a captivating glimpse of a complex culture driven to the brink of extinction. Images of artifacts, 3-D computer graphics, and artwork enhance the program
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