Beyond ecocide: Rapa Nui was not a society that cut down its last tree

Rapa Nui has served as the archetype of ecocide. This paper applies Evidence Chain Restructuring Archaeology (ECRA) to integrate two landmark 2024 studies---ancient DNA (Moreno-Mayar et al.) and satellite-based agricultural reassessment (Davis et al.)---with corrected historical records. The aDNA evidence excludes any demographic bottleneck before 1722; satellite data eliminate the empirical basis for a population exceeding 15 000. The only direct numerical estimates---corrected observations from 1770 and 1786---record 2000-3000 inhabitants. Two independent falsifications of Diamond's model, supported by direct observations, indicate a resilient steady state from c. 1600 to 1862, terminated by Peruvian slave raids and epidemic disease after 1862.