Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:A new study suggests that the island of Rapa Nui, otherwise known as Easter Island, didn’t develop in the extreme manner of isolation that we thought. By comparing archeological data and radiocarbon dating, professors from Uppsala University were able to break down the development of ritual practices throughout Rapa Nui and the rest of East Polynesia into three distinct phases. As Phys.org notes, it’s hard to believe these islands all developed independently after the initial wave of eastward expansion—especially given the striking similarities in their monuments and the evidence of shared ritual practices. The first phase, which the scientists say occurred between 1000–1300 A.D., stems from that initial west-to-east expansion. “Ideas surrounding the materialisation of ideology expanded through established networks in the south-eastern Pacific, from the Pitcairn Islands in the east to the Society Islands,” they note.