Reseña

Alfred Métraux, one of the most notable European anthropologists and ethnologists of the Twentieth Century, was the first professional investigator to study in depth the ancient Rapanui culture. With a keen eye and a unique sensibility, he reconstructed a world that was thought to be lost. His greatest work, “Ethnology of Easter Island”, has been considered as the Bible of Rapa Nui.
“The purpose of this work is to present a picture of the old Pascuan civilization through the help of the material gathered during our mission. This past would not have been able to be reconstructed without the elements of comparison offered by the ethnography and archaeology of the neighboring archipelagos that were inhabited by peoples of the same race and with the same language.
“In this book, we often encounter the names of two natives among our principal informants - Juan Tepano and Victoria Rapahango. Tepano knew the civilization of his parents only through some memories of his childhood and from the stories of the elders. Victoria Rapahango, a woman of some thirty-six years of age, introduced us to this small, closed, gossipy world that is the modern town of Hanga Roa.”
This edition includes a foreword by the investigator Carlos A. Paoa-Huki, an article about Juan Tepano written by the historian (and his great-grandson) Cristián Moreno-Pakarati and two annexes created by the anthropologist Rolf Foerster and the photographer Lorenzo Domínguez.

“You, Alfred, will know everything about the Island. Those who came before you have not heard all the words, but you will know them all. I know. The words of the ancients have been twisted, but you will know their truth”
Juan Tepano-Rano conversing with Alfred Métraux.