New Discoveries on Easter Island

Candace Gossen, Ph.D., is an environmental archaeologist, architect, plant medicine teacher and is in the valley willing to share her research on new discoveries taking place on Easter Island. As she states, this is not a story of collapse but rather one of a strong resilient place called the Navel of the World. Her presentation and a short film on the subject will be shown at the Ashland Branch Library on Thursday, August 4 from 6:30-8:30 p.m., 410 Siskiyou Boulevard.

What happened to the trees on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)? Popular theory says these ancient humans cut down their forests, causing ecocide and collapse and leaving a barren island with thousands of stone Moai lying facedown in testament. Newly uncovered evidence is changing the old story into a new one based on survivability, sacredness, adaptation, and hope.

A French-Indian girl from the bayous of Louisiana who loves to dig in the dirt and climb trees, Dr. Candace Gossen has excavated, explored and taught on 6 continents including the last 13 years on Rapa Nui. She discovered an extreme climate event that caused the disappearance of the giant palm forests in 1456 A.D. Previous and simultaneously, she learned Archaeoastronomy, earth and solar architecture from the ancient builders of the Desert SW, raised her son, and was the Climbing Supervisor at REI. Moving to the PNW in 1996, her teachings continued in the form of design/build experiments in the middle of Portland and taught thousands of students to create sustainable solutions. Her other accomplishments include underwater and garbage archaeology, plant medicine woman, Mazama climber, wilderness first aid responder, artist, classically trained musician, Rock n’ Roll lighting designer, Yoga teacher and soccer player. She is also a lover of wolves and nature that finds passion in teaching.

This presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library.  For more information, please call 541 774-6996 or visit jcls.org.