The Haida's woodworking skills also extended to onshore structures, including cedar plank and long houses, and the iconic mortuary and memorial poles on par with Easter Island's statues minus the mystery.

UNESCO: Culture

Which brings us back to de Boinod's title: tingo is an invaluable word from the Pascuense language of Easter Island meaning "to borrow objects from a friend's house, one by one, until there's nothing left".

BBC: NEWS | UK | Magazine | Tingo, nakkele and other wonders

With the Santiago business traveler in mind, CNN asked Lonely Planet's Bridget Gleeson, co- author of Lonely Planet Chile and Easter Island Travel Guide, to lend her expertise in selecting the city's best spots.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Mr Fischer's own expertise lies in this area: he deciphered the rongorongo script of Easter Island, something that looks more like a design for children's wallpaper than a way to convey information.

ECONOMIST: Language

With other Explorers Club members, Bennett has traveled to Hawaii to study humpback whales, to Madagascar to catalog the island's flora and fauna, to Mount Kilimanjaro for a bit of bioprospecting, and to Easter Island for an archeology project.

FORBES: Magazine Article

At its Easter meeting, Chief Pleas rejected a call to create the island's first full-time administrator roll by a vote of 14-13.

BBC: Sark civil servant post to be discussed again

Viewers are taken to Easter Island in the South Pacific, where scientists are trying to determine why the island's population mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the 1700s.

CNN: TV, radio, Internet sing same Earth Day theme