Lying 2,000 miles west of the South American coast and more than 1,000 miles from the nearest settlement, a tiny island was visited by Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutch navigator, on Easter Sunday 1722. He ...

Finding out what actually happened in the deep past can be a slog, so when ancient history is packaged as mystery—spine-tingling but solvable—it’s hard to resist. Who doesn’t want to know how a lost ...

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 ...

Often described as remote and forbidding, this island has quietly become one of the most closely watched places on Earth, drawing attention not just from scientists and climate researchers, but also ...

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 ...