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WHAT WIPED OUT THE EASTER ISLAND CIVILISATION?

The collapse of the Easter Island civilisation is often used as a cautionary tale about exploiting the environment.

The inhabitants of the island off the coast of Chile are believed to have been wiped out by bloody warfare as they fought over dwindling resources.

The Polynesian culture, called Rapa Nui, settled the island around 1,200 AD, and the population is estimated to have been around 15,000 at its peak.

But by the time Europeans settled the island in 1722, the population had declined to a couple of thousand.

By the 1860s, the entire culture was nearly entirely wiped out, with just over 100 individuals remaining.

All the civilisation left behind were the iconic giant stone heads and an island littered with sharp triangles of volcanic glass.

Archaeologists have long believed these were used as weapons by the remote location's inhabitants. 

Recentl scientists have suggested the ancient civilisation did not collapse as it ran out of resources.

Some believe the population was actually decimated by the arrival of Europeans - who brought syphilis, smallpox and slavery onto the land. 

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