Overview

• Satellite data and machine learning reveal fewer rock gardens than previously estimated, indicating limited agricultural capacity.
• New findings propose that the island's population remained stable and did not experience a pre-European collapse.
• The study contradicts earlier theories that resource overexploitation led to a dramatic population decline.
• Researchers argue that the Rapanui people adapted sustainably to their environment with innovative agricultural practices.
• Critics caution that the new model may oversimplify the island's complex ecological and historical context.