1,900 miles west of South America and 1,250 miles from any other population centre, Easter Island - or Rapa Nui - is world famous for its monolithic stone statues. But new evidence indicates that the isle's infamous prehistoric 'societal collapse' may actually be a myth.

With the help of fresh techniques and research, Robert DiNapoli and his team from Binghamton University in the US have found that descendants of Polynesian seafarers who settled Easter Island in the 13th century continued to erect statues for at least 150 years past 1600 - the date long hailed as the start of societal collapse. In this episode Cat is joined by Robert DiNapoli to learn more about his remarkable findings.

For more Gone Medieval content, subscribe to our Gone Medieval newsletter here. 

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.