....The Raivavae Archaeological Project* is dedicated to studying, excavating and preserving the ancient archaeogical treasures of prehistoric Polynesia, with a particular focus on the relatively unknown island of Raivavae. To accomplish these important goals an international team of world-class archaeologists, ethnographers and volunteers has been assembled.
....Several of these researchers have extensive experience in the archaeological exploration and excavation of the Pacific Islands of Polynesia, including significant research on Easter Island, the Austral, Marquesas and Society Islands.
....Raivavae has had very little field work performed since Thor Heyerdahl's field work in 1956. E. Edwards surveyed and located over 600 archaeological sites during 2 periods 1986-87 and 1991. Researching and excavating these sites will lend a great deal of further insight on the Chronology of the Eastern Pacific Colonization patterns as they relate to the inhabitants of Easter Island and the rest of Eastern Polynesia.   We plan to do field work and excavations over at least 3 seasons, analyzing and compiling data between the field work periods.  The significance cannot be over stated.  We hope to be able to link the Pitcarins early settlers (pre-Bounty) to Mangareva and Easter Island to Raivavae, showing that they were an advanced sea faring culture that traded through out the entire region.  We also hope to discover fossil records of extinct plant and animal species as yet unknown.

....The Raivavae Archaeological Project web site is dedicated to documenting the work of these researchers, whose goal is to share their discoveries with the world community.
....Throughout the life of the project we plan on submitting regular reports with accompanying photographs via the "field blog." This Project will include a minimum of 3 sessions, of 2 to 4 months each over the next three years. We hope to achiece these three significant results:

(1) To determine how, when, and from where Raivavae was settled, and its social and trading relationships with the other Austral Islands and Polynesia.

(2) We expect our efforts to contribute new knowledge with respect to several important questions in Eastern Polynesian archaeology, such as its relationship with other archipelagos further eastwards: such as the Gambier Archipelago and the island of Mangareva, which we theorize is the homeland of Easter Island's prehistoric settlers.

(3) We anticipate that this research will provide a historical timeline of the cultural development of Raivavae.

* The Raivavae Archaeological Project's Non Profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is pending.