William D’Andrea
D’Andrea, an associate research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, seeks to bring new analytical tools to bear on the controversies and mysteries surrounding the decline of the early settlers of Easter Island, who rapidly overexploited the island’s resources through deforestation, causing their own demise.
By collecting new sediment cores, with near-continuous sediment accumulation during the past 3700 years, and by applying novel analytical tools, D’Andrea seeks to determine when the first people settled Easter Island; what the timing and amplitude of hydroclimate variability were prior to and following the settlement of the island; and how long after settlement the Easter Islanders began their practice of burning forests to create arable land for agricultural activity.
The work will improve understanding of the interactions that took place between the people of Easter Island, their environment, and the climate of the eastern Pacific.