^ thanks all --
-- here is something recent from the nytimes science section regarding the origin of the rapa nui people:
SCIENCE
In Easter Island DNA, Evidence of Genetic Loneliness
By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR OCT. 12, 2017
Looking at a map, one would be challenged to find a more impressive place than Easter Island where people ventured without the benefit of modern navigation. Just three times the size of Manhattan, it is more than a thousand miles from its nearest island neighbor to the west and 2,200 miles from Chile to the east, yet people have lived there for more than 800 years.
Scientists have long wondered how early people sailed to the island — as well as how they built the island’s impressive Moai.
An 18th-century engraving showing the French explorer Jean-François de Galaup La Pérouse arriving at Easter Island in 1786. A new study suggests Polynesians and South Americans did not intermingle before European contact in 1722. Credit De Agostini Picture Library, via Getty Images
The giant, mysterious stone men, or moai, for which Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is known. The tiny island is more than a thousand miles from its nearest island neighbor to the west and 2,200 miles from Chile to the east. Credit Onfokus, via Getty Images
more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/s...e=sectionfront