In his “Island at the Edge of the World,” the British archaeologist Mike Pitts delves into the misconceptions and legends surrounding a complex ancient culture. By Joshua Hammer Joshua Hammer is the ...

Roggeveen named his find Easter Island (known locally as Rapa Nui). In 1774, Capt. James Cook landed with a party of scientists. Unimpressed by the island’s paltry range of crops, its brackish water ...

Anyone who’s ever questioned the human obsession with erecting big monuments need only wander far afield in time and space. The carved bisj poles created by the Asmat people in the swamps of West ...