The indigenous people of Easter Island, the Rapa Nui, were thought to have undergone a societal collapse some time after the 17 th century due to in-fighting over depleted natural resources. But a new study of the tools they used to carve their famous moai statues adds to the evidence that the Rapa Nui in fact had a highly collaborative society.

Easter Island covers just 170 square kilometres and is one of the most remote places on Earth , sitting thousands of miles from the nearest landmass in the south-eastern …