{"collection":"Sacred Texts -- Pacific Islander Religions","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_pac_ei_ei40_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_pac_ei_ei40_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_pac_ei_ei40_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/pac/ei/ei40.htm","summary":"This is a primary-source expedition account from an 1891 U.S. Navy survey of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), written in the tradition of 19th-century exploratory field reporting. Thompson describes two distinct archaeological sites encountered during a coastal survey: a settlement of elliptical stone houses he identifies as the island's oldest habitations, notable for built-in lava-stone niches he interprets as shrines for household gods \u2014 including rudimentary arched keystones he considers significant \u2014 and a second, more recent settlement of canoe-shaped thatched dwellings whose stone curbing contained drilled holes for roof poles. The account mixes archaeological observation with vivid hardship narrative: the team covers far more ground than the straight-line distance suggests, camps in rain near foul water, and works through saturated equipment. A distinctive claim is that the older ruins were entirely unknown even to local guides and resident traders, suggesting Thompson believed he was documenting sites unrecorded in contemporary knowledge. The text is concrete and measurement-heavy (wall dimensions, cliff heights, site spacing), reading as an officer's field log aimed at a scientific or governmental audience rather than a popular one.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"Te Pito Te Henua, or Easter Island: Ruins of the Oldest Habitation on the Island","tradition":"Sacred Texts -- Pacific Islander Religions","translated_text":null,"word_count":628}