Houses were abandoned and the foundation stones used to construct fortified dwellings in caves underground.
Some evidence even suggests that once everything edible had been consumed,
the starving were driven to that most desperate of acts, cannibalism.
Understandably, this version of Easter Island's history remains controversial,
because it suggests the Rapa Nui were incredibly short-sighted.
As the trees dwindled, why did they do nothing about it?
But a new theory suggests the Rapa Nui were powerless to prevent their downfall,
for when they arrived on this island, they were not alone.
Rats travelled with people to every corner of the Pacific.
on Easter Island, their impact may have been catastrophic.
Multiplying to plague proportions,
they would have devoured the wild fruits, the seabirds, even the nuts of the giant palms,
so that the trees may have stopped reproducing long before the last one was felled.