[00:00.36]Houses were abandoned and the foundation stones used to construct fortified dwellings in caves underground.
[00:08.87]Some evidence even suggests that once everything edible had been consumed,
[00:13.49]the starving were driven to that most desperate of acts, cannibalism.
[00:17.42]Understandably, this version of Easter Island's history remains controversial,
[00:21.60]because it suggests the Rapa Nui were incredibly short-sighted.
[00:25.54]As the trees dwindled, why did they do nothing about it?
[00:28.46]But a new theory suggests the Rapa Nui were powerless to prevent their downfall,
[00:33.72]for when they arrived on this island, they were not alone.
[00:37.26]Rats travelled with people to every corner of the Pacific.
[00:40.94]on Easter Island, their impact may have been catastrophic.
[00:44.27]Multiplying to plague proportions,
[00:46.48]they would have devoured the wild fruits, the seabirds, even the nuts of the giant palms,
[00:52.23]so that the trees may have stopped reproducing long before the last one was felled.
[00:56.86]