Post #423474 by ikitnrev on Fri, Dec 12, 2008 12:40 PM

There appears to be a new exhibit in Paris, that focuses on the demise of civilization on Easter Island. The exhibit is being displayed at the Foundation of Électricité de France (Espace Fondation EDF, 6 rue Récamier, Paris 75007), through March 1, 2009.

From an article about the exhibit .....
(full article can be found here http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/12/asia/atease.php)

• The curators, Michel and Catherine Orliac of France's National Center for Scientific Research, explain (although not in English) that an examination by Ms. Orliac of 12,000 charcoal remains demonstrated the disappearance of trees, shrubs and undergrowth to be a brutal process. They link its cause to a fall in ocean temperatures and salinity, caused by a natural phenomenon like El Niño in the years 1600 to 1640.

Before the middle of the 17th century, the exhibit's documentation says, the island had 23 species of trees and shrubs; afterward only six remained. For Michel Orliac, to whom I spoke, it would be hard to conceive of the island's accomplished Polynesian sailors disregarding their need for wood to make boats in favor of sleds for moving the statues.

"If it were just the big trees that disappeared, you could accuse man," he said. "But it was all the little species, too."

The exhibit's verdict: "Only a natural phenomenon of great dimensions is capable of producing such a catastrophe. It was probably a drought." *

The exhibit has some island artifacts and film clips on display .... could be an interesting side visit if you are in Paris.

Vern