Easter Island's Silent Sentinels

This richly illustrated volume offers a comprehensive exploration of Easter Island's history, culture, and art, but its true contribution lies in its groundbreaking focus on the island's overlooked vernacular architecture. While the iconic moai statues have long dominated the narrative, this book shifts the lens to the dwellings, ceremonial platforms, and everyday structures that formed the backbone of Rapa Nui society, providing a more complete picture of how this civilization actually lived.

By meticulously documenting the island's built environment, the author provides a crucial, human-scale context for the famous stone giants, arguing that you cannot fully understand the statues without understanding the people who created them. Readers with a deep interest in archaeology, architectural history, and indigenous cultures will find this a revelatory text, as it masterfully connects the grandeur of the monolithic sculptures to the intimate, practical spaces of daily life, finally giving voice to the island's silent architectural sentinels.