The Lost Gods of Easter Island
The Lost Gods of Easter Island is a BBC documentary written and presented by David Attenborough. It explores the history of the civilization of the remote Easter islands. Attenborough embarks on a personal quest to uncover the history of a strange wooden figurine carving which turned up in an auction room in New York during the 1980's.
The auction catalogue indicated that the carving was from Easter Island and the auctioneers told him that the sculpture had come from a junk-shop dealer in Pennsylvania. He knew that the, "grotesque head, attached to a body grossly elongated and as thin as a stick," was more important than the auctioneers believed it to be and had such presence and power that he bought it.
He began an investigation to trace the origins of the artifact -- an investigation that spans the globe and leads him on voyages to Russia, Australia, England, the Pacific, a Tahiti beach and finally to one of the most remote places on earth; and 15 years later, in a personal detective story that combines art, anthropology, and history traces the origin of the carving and in doing so tells the story of a forgotten civilization and of a people who inhabited one of the most remote places on Earth.
Now this I look forward to, see, I have a theory. (lot's of them lol) - Try This, taken from a thread on another site where I argue with someone who claims the universe is a machine:
A different version of the universe POSSIBLY being a machine:
S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S
Deciphered my ME, a couple of years ago now huh, here, in this thread.
It's correct translation: The ring's of Saturn make the world STAGE go round. Each number on the face of a clock has a megalithic structure.
This can only be seen when looking at the earth from SOUTH. The rings of Saturn have a different PULL on the MOON, depending on which side of EARTH, the MOON is at, and the rings of SATURN. Where the MOON is relevant to the rings of SATURN, the opposite side of the ring's is closer to EARTH, for there is less gravitational pull when the MOON is inbetween Earth, and the ring's of Saturn. As each rotate, a pendulum effect is created, keeping the Earth spinning. (Easter Island being one of these, and so relevant to my post)
One just need to look at a technics 1210mk11 turntable without the platter, to imagine each magnet seen as a megalithic site.
Go figure.
Scientifically provable, and viewable/touchable by the layman. The secret of comedy is in the TIMING.
The history of this documentary sounds EXTREMELY whitewashed. No mention of the Europeans arrival and “halving” of the Rapa Nui through enslavement. Or of slaves aboard the ships that passed through Easter Island. This is important.
No, Easter Island was not on any trade route. There were no slave ships stopping at Easter Island. Widen your mind, there is far more to the world than Black History month.
one thing i expected to read in the comments but haven't is that what the host thought were the eyes were his ears. the statues smile went from ear to ear. the face was correct and the earlobs matched the drawing of a native whos earlobs were altered. why he thought they were the eyes i just dont get it
This was an amazing story...so rich. I find The Easter Island story so compellingly fascinating. The isolation, the environmental degradation, later the wholesale enslavement of the people by slavers, the statutes. Well done, David!
they should return the items to Rapa Nui they are the propert of Polynesians not westerners
One of Attenborough's bests. For those how doubt any of the facts presented, I'd like to recommend the "Easter Island" chapter of Jared Diamond's sequel to "Guns, Germs, and Steel," his book "Collapse: How societies chose to fail or succeed".
dae1600 compares humans to weeds. Since I was a child, I have likened humans to fleas on the back of a dog sucking away its life giving blood. Morbid thought, but despite the native's idoltry of the Gods, wouldn't you have thought they'd at least have the foresight to build canoes with the remaining trees and set them aside for when they were needed? Talk about painting yourself into a corner.....
i love this
Sir Attenborough is a real master of documentary! Thoroughly enjoyed the film! Thanks everyone who made it!
A great commentary on what humans do to any environment they are placed in. We are like weeds that are accidentally introduced and then take over and destroy the resources around us and simply move on.
A little known fact that a lot of people don't know is that the Easter Island Heads were Made in China .... They found it was better to 'Out-souse' the actual caving and have them shipped to the Island.
Echhh! Attenborough again. Lord help us...what a bore. Kidding, of course. You Brits love to bitch and moan when a commentator doesn't measure up to your high standards, so I thought I'd join in.
Wow you just got to love Sir Attenborough! Very good documentary
Informative. Answered questions I had about Easter Island. Really enjoyed it!
INCREDIBLE documentary, what a scientist, I had never heard anything more about Easter Island then the giant statues known as Moai, incredible to see such craftsmanship on those wooden statues! Really fascinating!
I don't have a t.v. - which is why I watch documentaries online - and had not seen David Attenborough in years. How old he is! It was so moving to see him in his old age (he must be 80+ ???) speaking in a mellow way about this sacred object - clearly as sacred to him as it may have once been to its makers. Touching.
Those watercolour paintings from Cook's expedition look like they were painted yesterday - so fresh. That's excellent rag paper. Not like the woodpulp stuff we produce these days. I was thinking that there is probably no other trace of the seaman who drew those images left in the world... Maybe his descendents don't even know he drew them... Sad.
I was thinking though that it would be good if these uniquely important artefacts of Easter Island history, owned by Sir David, the British Museum, the St Petersberg Ethnographic Museum, could be returned to Easter Island...
Another thought, could DNA be recovered from the wood and this now extinct species of tree be brought back to life and replanted on Easter Island? (Maybe a bit too much to hope but one can still dream. And since humans drove the tree to extinction we are morally bound to bring it back if we can...)
Search "Rapa Nui" movie and download the torrent...
There was a movie entitled "The Naked Island" documenting the life of the people of the Easter Island, their rituals, and the reason behind the lost of trees. It was made and shown during the 90's.
Ha ha, you burks. The youtube video is re-linked to the last section, thats the reason it seems like it repeating itself.
Apart from that good documentary, loved it.
This one seemed a bit out there, hard to believe everything presented.
fascinating, really enjoyed this one!!!!
Great Documentary...
Very Informative
Thanks For Posting It
Yeah, I thought it started over again at the end, but it wrapped up nicely.
Great documentary. I knew most of the things discussed, but the wooden figures were new to me.
More David Attenborough docs please!
Pretty good detective work by David Attenborough. He recycles parts from the beginning of the documentary (quite a bit) on the end, but gets to the ending soon enough. Well worth watching if you like cultural history and investigation.