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The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of the tourism sector on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and its interaction with social transformations before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It critically analyses the long-term social impacts of tourism from a sustainability perspective, with particular attention to Indigenous agency, local empowerment, and debates on co-creation in tourism and heritage management. The study adopts a qualitative case study design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with local residents, tourism stakeholders, and public authorities, complemented by participant observation and analysis of policy documents, official reports, and tourism initiatives. A longitudinal perspective enables comparison across pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic periods. The findings show that tourism has been a key driver of social transformation on Rapa Nui, generating both pressures and opportunities. Prior to the pandemic, mass tourism intensified social and environmental challenges but also fostered cultural revitalisation and demands for greater local control. The COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point, strengthening calls for visitor limits and more sustainable, culturally grounded tourism. Post-pandemic strategies increasingly prioritise local participation, cultural engagement, and environmental stewardship. The originality or value of this study lies in its focus on Indigenous perspectives and co-creation processes in a small, remote island context, demonstrating how crisis moments can catalyse shifts toward more locally driven and sustainable tourism models.

As with the peopling of the Pacific Islands, the monumental ritual architecture of East Polynesia is presumed to have spread from West Polynesia. By re-examining the wealth of absolute dates available from ritual contexts across these diverse islands, the authors challenge this generalisation in Polynesian ideological materialisation, identifying three phases of development. They argue that initial west-to-east migration spread the concept of ritual spaces marked by stone uprights c. AD 1000–1300, then the formalisation of monuments diffused in the opposite direction c. AD 1300–1600, before megastructures emerged from localised hierarchisation, perhaps earliest on Rapa Nui c. AD 1350–1500.

Starch residue analysis was carried out on stone tools recovered from the bottom layer of the Anakena site on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). These deposits have been dated to AD 1000–1300 AD and so far, represent the earliest evidence of human settlement on this island. Twenty obsidian tools were analyzed. Analysis of 46 starch grains recovered from 20 obsidian tools from the earliest dated level of the Anakena site on Rapa Nui provides direct evidence for translocation of traditional crop plants at initial stages of the colonization of this island. The analysis of starch grains was based mainly on statistical methods for species identification but was complemented by visual inspection in some cases. Our results identify taxons previously unknown to have been cultivated on the island, such as breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), Zingiber officinale (ginger), and starch grains of the Spondias dulcis and Inocarpus fagifer tropical trees. Additionally, starch grains of Colocasia esculenta (taro) and Dioscorea sp. (yam), both common species in Pacific agriculture, were identified. Furthermore, the presence of four American taxa Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato), Canna sp. (achira), Manihot esculenta (manioc), and Xanthosoma sp., was detected. The occurrence of Canna sp., M. esculenta, and Xanthosoma sp. starch grains suggests the translocation of previously not described South American cultivars into the Pacific. The detection of I. batatas from this site in Rapa Nui constitutes the earliest record of this cultigen in the Pacific. Our study provides direct evidence for translocation of a set of traditional Polynesian and South American crop plants at the initial stages of colonization in Rapa Nui.

It is now over 30 years since we participated in the large-scale archaeological excavations at Anakena (Fig. 6.1). The results of the excavations are published in the Kon-Tiki Museum Occasional Papers (Skjølsvold 1994). The accumulated results from archaeological research on Rapa Nui subsequent to our initial excavations at Anakena justify a re-assessment of the remains and the chronological aspects at this site. New radiocarbon-dated samples have been added to the analysis and discussion of Rapa Nui prehistory, and old samples have been re-analyzed several times (see, for example, Martinsson-Wallin et al. 2013; Martinsson-Wallin and Crockford 2002; Wallin et al. 2010; Wilmshurst et al. 2011).In this respect, we suggest that it is important to re-analyze the activity and settlement sites and monuments at Anakena and their importance for ritual activities from the time of initial colonization onward. The aim of this paper is to provide new explanations and interpretations of the formation processes of the Anakena site with special attention to the activity area we named Nau Nau East (Fig. 6.2). Featuresobserved in this activity area included a small standing stone image upright that was crudely carved, hearths, refusal pits, postholes, grinding activities and a stone line demarcation.

Evidence of massacre, trauma on human skeletal remains, finds of used weapons, depictions of fighting on rock carvings and pottery, destruction of monuments, built defensive structures such as earth forts, and descriptions of warfare and violence in oral traditions point to the existence of organised warfare in pre-text societies. The aim of this chapter is to review and discuss the evidence of warfare and violence in pre- and protohistoric Rapa Nui (Easter Island) using data from oral traditions, the analysis of material culture, and information from human skeletal remains.

In this paper, two World Heritage island destinations are compared, Gotland in the Baltic and Rapa Nui in the Pacific. Both islands deal with a growing number of tourists, which asks for rethinking of tourism development. As cultural heritage plays a major role in tourism for both destinations, it is especially important to look into sustainable cultural tourism development from the perspective of authenticity. The paper is based on a variety of materials and takes an innovative approach to methods through a student–staff collaboration. The data show that social acceptance of tourism by local communities on both islands could be achieved through the creation of authentic experiences. Furthermore, data show that it is rather potent to engage both locals and tourists in modernized authentic experiences. However, this can only be done if locals are empowered and are genuinely allowed to steer the development of tourism. 

This article is based on a qualitative study regarding two World Heritage Island destinations, Gotland in the Baltic Sea and Rapa Nui in the Pacific Ocean. The two islands are used as cases illustrating different views on the development of cruise tourism. By applying conjunctural analysis the authors are able to account for the broader context of cruise tourism. Different perspectives on cruise tourism are found to be embedded in both local and global contexts, which are associated with three kinds of challenges: cruise tourism is developing without the local community’s involvement in decision making, it is not aligned with the aims of local tourism and ignores local products and services. We therefore call for more involvement of the local community in the development of cruise tourism.

Using diatoms, pollen, and geochemistry, we explore human habitation around Lina myr, Gotland, in relation to shore displacement. Archeological evidence has shown that Lina myr was an important area for its prehistoric human inhabitants. We investigate if and when Lina myr was connected to the sea and could therefore have been part of an inland water system useful for transport. A chronology was based on C-14 AMS dating of terrestrial macrofossils and bulk sediments with dates ranging between 9100 and 2360 cal. yr BP. The initiation of the Littorina transgression was dated to 8500 cal. yr BP. A twofold pattern for the maximum sub-phase of the Littorina Sea is suggested from 8100 to 7500 cal. yr BP and from 6500 to 6000 cal. yr BP. The onset of cultivation and grazing was indicated by the presence of Hordeum and Plantago lanceolata in the pollen record during the Late Neolithic, at about 4580 cal. yr BP. During this time sea level was relatively higher than today and the Lina myr basin was connected with the Littorina Sea, which it continued to be until isostatic uplift caused it to become isolated at about 3820 cal. yr BP. After about 3000 cal. yr BP, human-made landscape changes intensified, grasslands increased, and shrublands decreased.

This paper reports the results of a project aiming to use survey and excavation of the Gothemshammar rampart in a digital reconstruction to understand the site in its original landscape setting. Excavations uncovered internal construction details and dateable materials from domestic animals and charcoal. Fifteen AMS dates indicate that the rampart was built and used in the Late Bronze Age, c. 950-700 cal AD.

Its northern end is situated at a steep scarp towards the current sea shore, and the southern end is in an open slightly sloping terrain, currently about a kilometre from the sea. LiDAR data and an up-to-date shoreline displacement model indicate that the seashore was about so m higher when the rampart was built and used than it is today. The landscape reconstruction shows that the rampart originally cut off a headland on an islet that was strategically located at the mouth of an inland water system.

To further understand the site's Bronze Age context we made a spatial analysis of features tied to the same time frame, including other monumental structures (stone ships, burial cairns, other ramparts/enclosures) and metalwork hoards. It became evident that all kinds of monuments were mainly located close to the sea shore on capes and islets. We could also see that the monuments, especially the stone ships, were mostly on the north shore of the ancient waterway and that its entry/exit where Gothemshammar is situated served as an important control point for travel into Gotland as well as overseas.