Plant material on obsidian blades on Rapa Nui suggests settlers there visited South America and returned
Anakena site as it looks today after excavations and restoration. Credit: Andrea Seelenfreund, CC BY
A team of archaeologists affiliated with several institutions in Chile reports evidence that early settlers on the island of Rapa Nui sailed to South America, interacted with people living there and then returned. In their study, published in PLOS ONE, the group analyzed plant material found on obsidian blades made by the early…