Patricia Vargas

In 1977, Claudio Cristino and Patricia Vargas Casanova began the massive Easter Island Archaeological Survey, a long term research program that to date has covered 85% of the island and recorded over 20,000 archaeological features and sites, including the documentation and mapping of almost 900 moai and the statue quarries of Rano Raraku (1981) where the great majority of the moai were carved, as part of the Easter Island Statuary Project carried out by the University of Chile´s research team (1977-1996). The pair have also directed the excavations and restoration of Ahu Tongariki one of the most notable monuments of Rapa Nui, protected as part of the National Park, a world heritage site since 1996.

From 1985 and 1994, they all carried out extensive archaeological surveys, excavations or restoration work in the Society Islands, Marquesas, and in the Australs Islands in French Polynesia. Between 1986 and 1991 Edwards and a team of workers from Raivavae carried out a complete archaeological survey of the island, recording a total of 610 compound structures and isolated components and features. The results of this major work, the first complete inventory of one of the Austral Islands, were published in 2003. Thereafter he has been dedicated to investigate rock art and archaeoastronomy in Eastern Polynesia and Easter Island.