Please note our new location:
Tuesday, March 20th 2018
HASR Bistro
Social/dinner hour from 6 pm: talk starts 7 pm
Everybody welcome: no admission charge
No corkage charge if you buy your wine at the neighboring HASR liquor store
Cheap and easy (cash only) parking at the underground municipal garage at 155 N Beretania
Exit ramp is directly opposite HASR Bistro
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Professor Brian Popp
Dept of Geology and Geophysics, UH-Manoa
New Discoveries on Rapa Nui
Brian Popp obtained his PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana and has been on the faculty at University of Hawaii since 1990. His specialty is stable isotope biogeochemistry.
Legends and stories blame the native Rapanui for causing an island-wide social collapse through overexploitation of natural resources with some theories even suggesting this led the people to turn to cannibalism.
However new isotopic data provides remarkable insight to the diet of the Rapanui and suggests islanders manipulated their gardens to improve crops, probably by using fertilizers, and that the Rapa Nui people adapted to and improved their environment to make it more hospitable.
This implies the Rapanui exhibited astute environmental awareness and stewardship to overcome nutrient poor soils in prehistoric times.