New Books Network Mike Pitts, "Island at the Edge of the World: The Forgotten History of Easter Island" (Bloomsbury, 2025)
Mar 11, 2026
Mike Pitts, archaeological writer, broadcaster, and former museum curator, revisits Rapa Nui’s story with fresh evidence. He questions the ecocide narrative and spotlights European impacts. He revives Katherine Routledge’s overlooked records and details how statues, agriculture, and social life shaped the island before 1722.
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Traumatised 1860s Baseline Distorted Rapa Nui History
- Early scientific visitors in the 1860s used a traumatised, post-slave-raids island population of ~100 as the baseline, creating a distorted origin story for Rapa Nui.
- That flawed baseline enabled the ecocide narrative blaming islanders for collapse instead of colonial violence.
The Routledges Spent Over A Year Recording Rapa Nui Lives
- Katherine and Scoresby Routledge were a wealthy married couple who spent 16–17 months on Rapa Nui collecting rich ethnographic records, photographs, and wax-cylinder recordings.
- Their joint fieldwork documented oral histories and ceremonies that could have reshaped Rapa Nui scholarship, but most of it went unpublished or was lost.
Catherine Routledge Became An Insider During A Revolt
- While on Rapa Nui Catherine Routledge bonded with a female island leader during a violent anti-ranch uprising and recorded extensive firsthand interviews in Polynesian.
- Catherine ran out of paper, wrote on scraps, took many photos, and amassed trunkfuls of material that later largely disappeared from public view.
