The remote Pacific island of Rapa Nui, commonly known as Easter Island, never experienced a "self-inflicted population collapse," a new analysis of ancient DNA reveals.
Researchers have long debated whether the Polynesian island's population plummeted due to deforestation, the overexploitation of local resources and warfare during the 1600s, before the arrival of Europeans a century later, according to a study published Wednesday (Sept. 11) in the journal Nature.
