UW Professor, Former Students Work on Easter Island Book |
|
 |
Oct. 25, 2007 -- For the past 28 years, University of Wyoming Anthropology Professor George W. Gill has conducted research of human osteology on Easter Island.
What has he learned after uncovering and examining hundreds of skeleton on the far-flung island, a triangle of volcanic rock some 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile?
You'll be able to find out in a soon-to-be-published, yet-to-be-named book by the Easter Island Foundation (EIF).
"That's going to be real special to me. That's going to be the real culmination of my contributions, of my research," says Gill, who is widely recognized as an expert in skeletal biology. "One of the objectives of the book will be to explain the origins of the people and the decline of their ancient advanced culture. There'll be some neat stuff in the book."
He chuckles and adds, "And then I can just get on to other things. I never imagined when I started that, this many years later, I'd still be working on it. But it's been a big part of my career and a very important part of my career."
The book, in addition to Gill's findings, will include the writings of several of his former students, including Wyoming natives Vince Stefan of Rock Springs and Doug Owsley of Lusk, whom the professor credits for "carrying my research to the next level."
Gill hopes Stefan, an associate professor of anthropology at Lehman College in New York City, and Owsley, an anthropologist for The Smithsonian Institution, will continue his research into the future.
The book's introduction will feature Gill's own description of his research on the ancestors of Easter Island, particularly face and head forms, stature, sex differences and other recognizable traits.
"This volume is really a big deal to me," he says, " because we're going to be making a real and recognized contribution to the research of Easter Island and the settlement of East Polynesia."
Gill was introduced to Easter Island by the late William Mulloy, a former UW professor who devoted much of his life to research of the island and its people. A library on the island has been named in his honor.
Gill recalls Mulloy telling him that he would do a great "service to the government of Chile and a service to the people of the island" by recovering threatened skeletal remains and using them to learn about the people of the island's past.
Shortly after Mulloy died of cancer, Gill made his first trip to Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui to locals, in 1979 and excavated 20 skeletons with the help of a former student, Sergio Rapu, a native of the island.
Prior to Gill's arrival, Rapu began the work of preserving his island's heritage by excavating 100 skeletons in 1978.
Two years later, with funding from the Center for Field Research and the National Geographic Society, Gill spent six months on the island and discovered 308 more skeletons as the scientific leader of an international archaeological recovery project.
"And then I began studying them," Gill says.
This summer, Gill spoke at the seventh International Conference on Easter Island, held at Gotland University in Sweden. He presented a paper titled "Skeletal Biology of the Prehistoric and Protohistoric Easter Island Population," a broad overview of the descriptive characteristics of the island's ancient people.
Also, Gill was awarded a "Golden Moai," which are given only to researchers from all fields of science who have dedicated more than 20 years to the study of the Rapa Nui.
"That was a great honor," he says.
At the conference, Gill also met with EIF editors and members to discuss publication of his research in a single volume. They liked the idea and gave him one year to present a first draft.
"We'll get it done, but in the next year will not be easy," Gill says.
He cracks a smile and adds, "We may have to beg for more time."
Photo:
University of Wyoming anthropologist George Gill examines one of Easter Island's iconic Moai statues while conducting research there in 1981.
Posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007
|
