DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gqnk98swd
title: Data from: Island-wide characterization of agricultural production challenges the demographic collapse hypothesis for Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

description: Communities in resource-poor areas face health, food production,
 sustainability, and overall survival challenges. Consequently, they are
 commonly featured in global debates surrounding societal collapse. Rapa
 Nui (Easter Island) is often used as an example of how over-exploitation
 of limited resources resulted in a catastrophic population collapse. A
 vital component of this narrative is that the rapid rise and fall of
 pre-contact Rapanui population growth rates was driven by the construction
 and overexploitation of once extensive rock gardens. However, the extent
 of island-wide rock gardening, while key for understanding food systems
 and demography, must be better understood. Here, we use shortwave infrared
 (SWIR) satellite imagery and machine learning to generate an islandwide
 estimate of rock gardening and re-evaluate prior population size models
 for Rapa Nui. We show that the extent of this agricultural infrastructure
 is substantially less than previously claimed and likely could not have
 supported the large population sizes that have been assumed.
description: # Data from: Island-wide characterization of agricultural production
 challenges the demographic collapse hypothesis for Rapa Nui (Easter
 Island) ### Author Information: * Principal Investigators: Dylan S. Davis
 * Co-Investigators: Robert J. DiNapoli, Gina Pakarati, Terry L. Hunt, and
 Carl P. Lipo ### Date of data collection/creation: 2023 January ###
 Geographic location of data collection: Rapa Nui, Chile ### Funders and
 sponsors of data collection: National Science Foundation (BCS-1841420,
 BCS-2218602), National Geographic Society’s Enduring Impacts: Archaeology
 of Sustainability Program (NGS-85450R-21) DSD is supported by a National
 Science Foundation SBE Fellowship (SMA-2203789). ## Sharing/Access
 Information ### License & restrictions on data reuse: ### Recommended citation for the data: suggested:
 Davis, D. S., R. J. DiNapoli, G. Pakarati, T. L. Hunt, and C. P. Lipo
 (2023). Island-wide characterization of agricultural production challenges
 the demographic collapse hypothesis for Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
 Retrieved from
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gqnk98swd](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gqnk98swd) ### Related publications: Davis, D. S., R. J. DiNapoli, G. Pakarati, T. L. Hunt, and C. P. Lipo (2024). Island-wide characterization of agricultural production challenges the demographic collapse hypothesis for Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Science Advances. [https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado1459](https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado1459) ## Data & File Overview ### File list: \-- Supplemental_Document.pdf - R-markdown file of machine learning script developed to identify lithic mulching features from WorldView-3 satellite imagery. \-- Supplemental_Code.R - R script contained in the Markdown file. \-- Mulch_Estimation.zip -- zip folder containing a raster dataset with cleaned lithic mulching estimations for Rapa Nui. Data was produced using a Maximum Entropy algorithm and was manually evaluated to remove errors. \-- Training_Data.zip -- zip folder containing shapefiles with training data used for machine learning classification of WorldView-3 satellite images. ### Additional notes: ESRI. (2020). ArcGIS (10.8.1). Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. R Core Team. (2020). R: A language and environment for statistical computing (4.0.2). R Foundation for Statistical Computing. [http://www.R-project.org/](http://www.R-project.org/) ## Methodological Information See published manuscript for methodological information.