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The Team
Darus Ane
Darus Ane is an accomplished watersports athlete who has been heavily involved
in outrigger canoe activities in California including the founding of Long
Beach's Kahakai Outrigger Canoe Club. Darus' family members in Hawaii are
deeply involved with the emerging rediscovery of Polynesian voyaging with the
voyaging canoes Hokule'a and Hawai'iloa. Darus' considerable knowledge in the
technology of the outrigger canoe and his experience in canoe construction makes
him an invaluable member of the Moai team. Darus received his education at
California State University of Long Beach and currently serves as the leader of
a rescue unit with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Claudio P. Cristino
Claudio Cristino has been Easter Island's resident archaeologist for the
past two decades. He is also Assistant Professor of Prehistory at the
University of Chile, Research Fellow at the Easter Island Studies Institute
of the University of Chile, Associate Researcher with the Department of
Archaeology of French Polynesia and Director of the Eastern Pacific
Research Foundation, a Maryland-based organization that finances scientific
projects in the Eastern Pacific. Claudio's connection with Easter Island
dates back to 1976, when he arrived as a graduate student to
participate in the restoration of the famous birdman cult ceremonial site
of Orongo. In the following years he excavated and restored Ahu o Kava and
many other ceremonial sites. In 1978 he founded the Easter Island Studies
Institute of the University of Chile, and acted as its first Director until
1985. From 1992 to 1996, he was the archaeologist in charge of restoring
Easter Island's largest ahu at Tongariki. He has continued to carry out
numerous studies in anthropology, ethnology, and ethno history on Easter
Island, in addition to directing the Rapa Nui Archaeological survey, a
gigantic task still in progress.
Edmundo Edwards
Edmundo Edwards has lived on Easter Island for 36 years, working in
archaeology and ethnohistory. In 1960 he worked as a volunteer with
Professor William Mulloy in the restoration of Ahu Akivi, one of Easter
Island's most visited moai sites. In 1977 he was a founder of the
Easter Island Studies Institute of the Chilean University, where he
worked as ethnoarchaeologist until 1985. Edmundo has lectured in several
countries and at more than 30 universities and museums throughout the
United States. He has also written many scientific papers on his work on
Eastern Polynesia on subjects related to anthropology, ethnology,
ethnohistory, ethnoarchaeology and ethnoastronomy. At present he is Vice
President of the Eastern Pacific Research Foundation, a Maryland-based
nonprofit organization that finances archaeological research in Easter
Island and Eastern Polynesia.
Santi Hito
Santi has shown his rock sculptures and paintings at the Museum of Art Los
Angeles in 1996, Spring Street Gallery Los Angeles in 1995 and Haight Street
Gallery San Francisco in 1994. His work was also featured in Brentwood Magazine
in the September 1995 issue.
His music is based on his native language and musical rhythms. Recently he has
performed at Mann Group, Renaissance and Venice Sunrise Cafe. Santi is a native
of Rapa Nui, who moved to Los Angeles, California to work as an Art Director and
Production Designer in the film industry. He has worked on many feature films,
as well as various commercials and music videos. Santi is fluent in English,
Spanish and Rapa Nui.
Vincent R. Lee
Vincent Lee is a self-employed architect in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and has
lived there since 1968. Prior to that, he served four years as a Marine Corps
officer in the Far East and obtained both undergraduate and graduate degrees
from Princeton University. He received a Master of Fine Arts in architecture
in 1966. In addition to his professional practice, he operated a seasonal
mountaineering guide service for 20 years and led hundreds of alpine ascents
and scores of expeditions worldwide. During a 1982 climbing trip in Peru's
Cordillera Vilcabamba, his boyhood fascination with ancient America was
reawakened and his part-time guiding activities gave way to what has since
become a second career in Andean archaeology. Accompanied by his wife, Nancy,
he has devoted much of the past 15 years to extensive field explorations and
mapping projects in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador as well as various studies in
pre-Columbian architectural design and construction techniques, in particular
those involving megalithic masonry.
Margee Ralston
Margee Ralston has been an outrigger canoe competitor since early childhood in
Hawaii, and currently paddles with the Kahakai Women's Masters crew in
California. Margee has helped with many outrigger and Polynesian cultural
events in and around Los Angeles for the past 10 years and has developed a
program using the outriggers as a cultural reconnection for Polynesian school
children living in California. Margee received her education at University of
Arizona and at Azusa Pacific University and currently teaches middle school in
Paramount, CA.
Ted Ralston
Ted Ralston has been involved with outrigger canoes and Polynesian culture
since his earliest remembrances as a child growing up in Hawaii. Now living in
California, Ted is a principal member of the Kahakai Outrigger Canoe Club,
which promotes the sport of Polynesian outrigger racing and Polynesian culture
in general in the Los Angeles area. Ted developed a connection with Rapa Nui
during the 1995 voyage to Long Beach of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule'a,
which served to bring together the many Pacific nations represented on the US
West Coast. Ted joined the team at the request of Dr. Van Tilburg, in order to
include his expertise in the technology of the voyaging canoe. Ted received
his education at the University of Illinois and Rensaelaer Polytechnic
Institute, and serves as an Executive Specialist at The Boeing Co., Long Beach,
CA.
Zvi Shiller
Professor Shiller is on the faculty of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Department at UCLA. He received a B.Sc. degree from Tel Aviv University, and
M.S. and doctoral degrees from MIT, all in mechanical engineering. His research
activities have focused on robotics, motion planning, dynamics and control,
and on intelligent vehicles. His contribution to the Easter Island project is
to determine the energy-optimal paths that could be used to transport the moai
on Easter Island, in addition to helping to refine the transport theory.
Jo Anne Van Tilburg Ph.D.
Jo Anne Van Tilburg is an archaeologist, Research Associate of the Institute of
Archaeology and Director of the Rock Art Archive, UCLA. She is a specialist in
Polynesian studies and has conducted field work in the Republic of Belau,
Micronesia, and on Easter Island. For more than 15 years, she has worked
closely with the Easter Island community, including artist Cristian Arevalo
Pakarati, to discover and describe more than 900 of the island's famous
monolithic statues. A passionate interest in Polynesian history led Dr. Van
Tilburg to create the Rapa Nui Outrigger Club in 1989. Thanks to the
leadership of the Rapanui community and the generous efforts of a world-wide
circle of supporters, the Club successfully re-introduced the once-lost
outrigger canoe, the quintessential Polynesian symbol, to the island.
Johannes Van Tilburg, FAIA
Johannes Van Tilburg is an architect, a Fellow of the American Institute of
Architecture and President of Van Tilburg, Banvard and Soderbergh, AIA, Santa
Monica, CA. Born in Holland, he is a recognized expert in his field who
teaches and lectures at the University of Southern California and Harvard
University. He has participated in archaeological field surveys on Easter
Island and in the Republic of Belau, Micronesia. His maps and plans of
ceremonial architecture on Easter Island have contributed greatly to
understanding the complex interaction of art and architecture. Jan Van Tilburg
lives with his wife Jo Anne and their daughter Marieka in Malibu, CA.
Past Attempts |
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