Rapa Nui Journal· Vol. 22, NO.2· October 2008

GEORGIA LEE & FRANK MORIN

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

Q: How did you get into archaeology, and specificallyEaster Island archaeology? What triggered yourinterest?

As a renowned female archaeologist, have you foundthat your sex played a role in making your researchprojects more difficult, or perhaps easier? Would youencourage women to go into the field of archaeology?

is amazing. Quite simply, Easter Island has the mostcomplex and extraordinary rock art in Oceania. Also,the numbers of rock art sites on the island was notsuspected. When I began my Easter Island petroglyphproject, I knew from the literature that there werepetroglyphs. But I did not anticipate the numbers ofsites, their sizes and their complexity. I initiallythought I could document them all in a few months;instead, it took five years!

Although many Rapanui islanders are or wereaware of the numerous sites, previous researchersfrom the outside had focused or reported on onlythose that were readily available and most visible. Mydatabase was in excess of 4,000 petroglyphs, notcounting many thousands more cupules (cup-shapedpetroglyphs). This is a large number for a smallisland! I probably would have missed many of themif were not for several Rapanui who worked with me:Felipe Teao, Raul Paoa, and Keremo Ika. I also hadhelp from Edmundo Edwards, a Chilean who haslived most of his life there, and I must mention FrankMorin, who worked with me during all those years onRapa Nui, and continued on with our study of therock art of the Hawaiian Islands.

I was lonely and had mocked up in my imagination acute chick who would go hiking with me on the sanddunes. My universe, however, had better ideas, andbrought Georgia into my life. The fun we have hadtogether for over 20 years far surpasses anything Icould have imagined.

Frank & Georgia at Kukui Point (near ShipwreckBeach), north shore of Lana'i, 1988

(Photographer unknown.)

Q:

FM:

What theory or project of yours turned out to bedifferent from what you had expected as, for ex­ample, a complete surprise?

Although I knew that the rock art in South Americawas very different from that of Easter Island, I ex­pected to find closer correspondence between therock art of Easter Island and that of Hawai' i, theMarquesas, and Tahiti. The magnitude of difference

FM: I supported Georgia by becoming very good at find­ing petroglyphs and then surveying and mapping thesites. I also set up on the computer the Rapa NuiJournal plus fourteen of the Foundation's books.

GL: The work of Katherine Routledge was a great inspira­tion. As for more contemporary influences, CarlyleSmith was most encouraging and supportive, as wasmy UCLA professor, Clement Meighan, who be­lieved that the study of rock art was a legitimate partof archaeology - an opinion not shared by manyarchaeologists at that time.

GL: I dreamed of going to Easter Island since I was about12 years old and read an old National Geographicmagazine that contained a story about the island andthe statues. I never really thought I'd get there. Idreamed of someday going to see this special place,little expecting it to become my life's work. Decadeslater, while recording rock painting sites in Californiathrough the UC Berkeley's UREP program, the op­portunity came to extend my project to Easter Island.When my permit finally came from the Consejo deMonumentales Nacionales, I could hardly believe mygood fortune.

Q: Who or what do you consider as your most signifi­cant influence (scientific or otherwise) either as aperson or a particular work (or series of works)?

FM: In 1985 at age 68, I met Georgia Lee. Her bumpersticker read "Archaeologists will date any old thing".This was a good start to the happiest years of my life.She invited me to accompany her on a lecture cruiseto Easter Island in 1986. So began collaboration withher in recording and publishing about the petroglyphsof Easter Island, Hawai'i, and California.

Q:

GL:

.........::::._----------------------------~

Rapa Nui Journal· Vol. 22, NO.2· October 2008

Q: What would you have done if you had not pursuedyour current line(s) of research and interests?

Georgia & Frank taking a break from the Gotlandconference to do some shopping in Visby, 2007.

(Photographer: Paul Horley.)

What was your best "Eureka" moment?

What do you hope to accomplish (in archaeology) onEaster Island in the future?

The comprehension that a relationship could beestabl ished between petroglyph motif and clan ter­ritory. By studying petroglyph motif distribution andcomparing that to the clan maps of Routledge, sud­denly a pattern seemed clear. This occurred whiledocumenting the great panel at Papa Vaka on EasterIsland, which contains very large and well carvedPolynesian fishhooks. It was the proverbial light bulbgoing on!

I am treasurer of the Easter Island Foundation andthat is enough.

I have no idea what I would have done had I not metGeorgia. I was retired and living alone, hiking on thenearby sand dunes. This behavior worried my sonMichael who had attended a lecture by Georgia anddecided that I should meet her. So Michael and hisgirlfriend introduced us.

Well, I am now retired from fieldwork but I wouldlove to work with someone who would be interestedin putting many unassigned petroglyph sites on themap with GPS technology - which we lacked duringthe years I was working on the island.

FM: For some time after meeting Georgia, I was un­decided about a long relationship. One day, inmeditation, it flashed on me that she, in fact, was theone for me and I decided to go with that 100%.

FM:

GL:

Q:

Q: What is your favorite Easter Island site and why?

FM: My favorite Easter Island site is the beach at Ovahe.Here I spent many happy hours going naked into theGreat Mother.

GL:

GL: Oh this is hard! So many places on the island are veryspecial to me! I love Ovahe, and the magical site atHau Koka in the caldera at Rano Kau. It is difficult topick a "favorite" although I have to admit that I dohave special feelings for 'Orongo, and Mata Ngarauin particular. We worked up there on the edge of thecliff for months, sometimes in sunshine, but often inrain and winds that seemed strong enough to blow usaway. The site itself has a mystical feeling for meand, on a clear day, the view is absolutely withoutparallel: The ocean stretches off, seemingly forever,and Motu Nui sparkles in that incredibly blue sea.

Q:

FM:In some instances, men tend to take a condescendingview toward female archaeologists. This is particu­larly so, I think, in "macho" countries where the maleego tends to get in the way. So a woman archaeolo­gist has to be better than her male counterpart just tohave a level playing field. Fortunately, this is not toodifficult.

As for encouraging women to go into archaeol­ogy, I would encourage anyone to go into archaeol­ogy! What is more interesting and absorbing thandiscovering and understanding how people lived inthe past? How they faced and solved their problems(or not!), and how they struggled to comprehend theiruniverse? Their story is our story. What happenedhere on earth in the past is fascinating stuff.

GL:

GL: I most likely would have continued with my studiesof American Indians, focusing on the ChumashIndians of California, and probably I would havestayed with a teaching career, boring my students todeath.

- 139-

Rapa Nui JOUYl'wl • Vol. 22, NO.2· October 2008

Q: What's the most important thing you'd like visitors toknow about Easter Island?

plished or How We Won the War in Iraq by Christo­pher Cerf and Victor Navasky.

Q: What are you currently reading?

GL:

FM:

GL:

That the island is more that just stone statues on anisolated bit of land. There is a living, breathingsociety there! Some books about the island give theimpression that there is nothing but ruins and statues.And, also, visitors need to know that the island isfragile and endangered, and under great stress. Theinfrastructure is a nightmare of poor planning; live­stock is allowed to roam freely, trampling on thearchaeological sites; there are (by the thousands) toomany vehicles. There are no controls, or if there arecontrols, no one pays any attention to them. Shacksappear on known archaeological sites. And preciousinformation is lost forever.

That the island was populated by Polynesians fromthe West.

Well, when not reading Winnie the Pooh to my 3­year old great-grandson, I am reading Where FateBeckons. The Life ofJean-Francois de La Perouse, byJohn Dunmore; Vaka Moana, Voyages ofthe An­cestors, edited by K.R. Howe; and Mission Accom-

FM:

Q:

GL:

FM:

Q:

GL:

FM:

I read investment articles and The Method oftheSiddhas by Adi Da.

Date and place of birth?

January 12, 1926; Alameda, California

October 10, 1917; Laconia, New Hampshire.

Credentials?

AA degree, Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri,1945; BA and Teaching Credential, CaliforniaCollege of Arts and Crafts, 1948; MA degree, ArtHistory, University of California, Santa Barbara,1978; PhD, Archaeology, University of California,Los Angeles, 1986.

BS and MS, University of New Hampshire, 1935 to1940; PhD abd, University of Wisconsin; Member ofthe Technical Staff, Bell Telephone Laboratories,1941-1962; Associate Director, Director and Dis­tinguished Fellow, Science Center, North AmericanAviation 1962-1979.

REVIEWS

Easter Island Foundation, 2008Soft cover, ISBN 978-1-880636-28-2

$15.00 U.S.

Jean Franyois de Galaup (Comte de La Perouse), Yuri Lisian­sky, Otto von Kotzebue, and Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars,creating the impression that only a handful of ships circum­navigated or anchored at the island in the pre-missionaryperiod. However, the true number of visitors was much higher.Not all of them left detailed accounts; sometimes it was littlemore than a couple oflines in a ship's logbook, to be foundburied in the archives of various libraries. The dispersal ofhistorical sources, not to mention the fact that many appear indifferent languages, complicates the process of comparativeanalysis and the generalization of existing data. This situationhas significantly improved with the publication of a new bookby Rhys Richards which presents extracts and descriptions formore than thirty accounts of early visitors to the Navel of theWorld.

At 144 pages, the book contains a wealth of historicaldocumentation. To avoid unnecessary repetition and toemphasize key observations, the accounts are properly abbre­viated after careful analysis. Several reports are given in fulllength, such as those of James Wolfe (HMS BLossom, 1825),Hugh Cuming (Discovery, 1827), and surgeon R. Guthrie(HMS Seringapatam, 1830); the last two cases also presentadditional detailed discussion and comments by Steven RogerFischer. The account of Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars (Venus,1838), originally written in French, was specially translated

EASTER ISLAND 1793 TO 1861:OBSERVATIONS BY EARLY VISITORS

BEFORE THE SLA VE RAIDSRhys Richards

Review by Paul Horley

Easter Island is a special placethat has attracted much attentionsince Jacob Roggeveenintroduced it to Europeansociety. In most publicationsonly a few additional visits toRapa Nui are usually mentionedin significant detail - namelythe expeditions of FelipeGonzalez y Haedo, James Cook,

- 140-

'-~------------------------------~