An upland agricultural residence on Rapa Nui: Occupation of a hare oka (18-473G) in the Vaitea Region

Abstract

Beginning in the early 14th century, Rapanui agriculturalists established remote field systems in the upland regions of Easter Island. The excavation of a hare oka, or circular house, reveals that many of the fields were tended by task-groups of two or three persons living in small dwellings. The use of the house over four centuries was followed by abandonment in the late 17th or early 18th century. These dates correlate with the chronology established by earlier excavations in the uplands and argue for a broad regional withdrawal near, or at the time of, chiefdom collapse.