Easter Island (Rapa Nui) represents the southeast corner of the 'Polynesian triangle' serving as a boundary marker in the conceptualisa­tion of Austronesia as a geo-cultural space. It is an island with a contested history in global literatures, serving as the basis for a range of credible and incredible theories about human society, culture and conduct, and its megalithic stonework pervades global popular culture. Up until the mid-20th century, the antiquity of Polynesian settlement on Rapa Nui was questioned, with comparisons drawn more to the material cultures of the Americas (cf. Heyerdahl 1989). While more recent research has confirmed the Polynesian origins of Rapa Nui society (Fischer 2005; Hagelberg et al. 1994), the status of Rapa Nui as Chilean territory since 1888 and the enduring Chilean cultural and political influence over Rapa Nui since that time has generated a social climate in which Polynesian and Latin American influences are mixed, and much of the cultural activity undertaken by contemporary indigenous culture bearers involves the unravelling of these entwined influences.