Claudio 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.