Introduction

Anthropologists, historians, geologists and archaeologists, in particular, delve into the past without a secret decoder ring, but instead with the hypotheses and physical remnants of the culture they wish to learn more about. To be certain, the moai and ahu are powerful, mysterious and grand in scale and design. They constitute awesome material statements of cultural meaning and chiefly legitimacy writ large on the landscape. Archaeologists from around the world have worked for the last twenty years on projects not focused on the extraordinary moai and ahu but rather the more mundane domestic arrangements all cultures share as they go about their day-to-day lives. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book demonstrates the power of seeing things in a different light and help to explain how the smallest details can be more meaningful than the largest monuments in the creation of a sustainable and innovative world.