Easter Island

About Easter Island

It is one of the most isolated islands in the world but 1200 years ago a double-hulled canoe filled with seafarers from a distant culture landed upon its shores. Over the centuries that followed a remarkable society developed in isolation on the island. For reasons still unknown they began carving giant statues out of volcanic rock. These monuments, known, as "moai" are some of the most incredible ancient relics ever discovered. The people of Easter Island called themselves the Rapa Nui. Where did they come from and why did they disappear? Science has learned much about the enigma of Easter Island and has put to rest some of the more bizarre theories, but questions and controversies remain.

Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui); (Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile annexed in 1888, Easter Island is widely famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai - created by the early Rapanui people. It is a World Heritage Site with much of the island protected within the Rapa Nui National Park.

Easter Island Sites

Rano Raraku -The Birthplace of the Moai

Many have a more detailed and finished look than the moai erected on the island's ahu. There are some that disagree that these statues were finished pieces waiting for transport and believe that they were never meant to be move from the slopes surrounding their birth place. Perhaps it was a "Moai Showroom" of sorts where local leaders could come and pick out their favorite design!
The Statue shown on the left is my personal favorite. It's thin deeply chiseled features make it unique among the Moai. At over 45 feet tall it must have been extremely difficult to carve and move.

Thor Heyerdahl's team was given one day in 1987 to excavate and measure the full length of the moai. Its regal head tapers into a long thin body with carved tattoo and loin cloth relief's on its surface. It has a distinctly phallic shape to it and some have proposed that all the moai were purposely designed around a phallus shaped form.

The interior of the caldera contains many finished and unfinished moai as well. Erosion has covered many nearly completely and it's possible more lay beneath the ground, covered by hundreds of years of erosion. The potmarked walls from which the moai where carved can clearly be seen in this photo taken of the interior of the Rano Raraku caldera just above the crater lake.
Right: Statues located on the interior slopes of Rana Raraku. Centuries of erosion have buried many of the Moai around the rim of the caldera.
Finally the strangest Moai ever found on Easter Island. The odd "kneeling" statue. Found by archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl's team in 1955 on a part of the Rano Raraku quarry near no other statues it stands, hauntingly. It is a very realistic piece compared to the traditional moai and it is unclear whether this was a very early piece or a later development. Its location, away from the other carved moai is also unusual. One legend says that this is a representation of a famous moai carver, erected to watch over future generations of the craftsmen.

There is something about this statue that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I can't put my finger on what it is but as I stood there looking at it with the howling tradewinds blowing through my ears, I knew there was a story here that had not been told. It's as if the statue is trying to scream out, to tell us what happened. But it's mouth is solid basalt and winds block out any sound.

Ahu Tongariki

However, in 1960, a massive tidal wave generated by an earthquake off the coast of Chile hit Ahu Tongariki and destroyed the platform and swept the massive moai hundreds of yards inland.

Ahu Vinapu

At Ahu Vinapu we see a style of stonework not found at any other Polynesian site. This is the only site on Easter where this level of workmanship is shown as well, however, other sites had existed but were torn down by the missionaries to build houses.

Ahu Akivi

The statues were raised and the site restored in the 50's by famed archeologist William Mulloy. Studies suggest that the ahu itself was begun around 1442 and lasted until 1600. Van Tilburg has postulated that during that time 8 chiefs of this region could have ruled. It is thought that perhaps the statues where build by the 8th chief who was most likely a direct descendant of the others. As statue construction stopped about this time this 8th chief never got his due after building such an austere and beautiful monument.

Ahu Naunau

What is striking about the statues at Ahu Naunau are the red scoria headdress's (known as Pukao) that fit on the moai heads. These were carved from a different quarry than those of the moai that contained a large quantities of the red lava rock. Many of the moai on the island originally had pukao and they are found alongside the fallen statues in many sites. It is believe that they where installed by building a ramp of stones up the side of an erected moai and then rolled up where they could be placed on the top. Afterwards the ramp was disassembled.
As for why the Rapa Nui began putting the pukao on selected moai remains a mystery. Heyerdahl, referring too the mysterious red headed race that was reported on the island concluded that they represented topknots of red hair. Other archeologists point to the tradition of placing a large stone on the image of a dead leader as a sign of death and mourning.
The statues at Ahu Naunau are also known for the detailed carvings on their backs. Along with traditional loin cloth reliefs are fishhook patterns that are found on none of the other statues.

The detail work in the statues at Ahu Naunau is truly remarkable. Precisely chiseled facial features, the now familiar long ears and thin lips are all carved on the Ahu Naunau statues to a degree not seen at other sites. Although, not the biggest of the moai, they are clearly the most refined. A fitting tribute if this is, indeed, the site of Rapa Nui's first settlement.

It was at Anakena that one of the island's secrets was finally discovered. Archeologist long puzzled over the deep eye sockets of the moai that had been erected. Could it be that the moai had in fact had eyes?

In 1978, a student named Sonia Haoa found fragments of worked coral and a red disk made out of scoria, the same material used to make the pukao. When fitted together they made an unmistakable eye. She brought the fragments to archeologist Segio Rapu who discovered they fit precisely in the eye socket of a moai. So, the moai did have eyes, although, it is unclear if they were permanent fixtures of the statues or placed in them only on ceremonial occasions as is done now on the island with replicas of the eyes.

Tahai Complex

On the island's western shore lay the ruins of a very unique ahu. It is unigue in that the statues erected on it are all very different from each other both in scale and shape. There is a the large figue in the center, with two figure of similar size on its left. Then to the right we have a smaller, squatter figure and the remains of an even smaller statue. Why is there variation of the moai at this ahu and not at the others
This site seems to clearly show an attempt to create some individualism in the statues while keeping the basic stylistic design. Whether this is depiction of a group of leaders of a clan as is generally assumed at other sites or represents an acutal family unit is a matter of debate. One could look at these figures and see a king with two sons on his left, and his wife and another child, perhaps a female on the left. Due to its incomplete condition the smaller statue will remain a mystery forever. Perhaps it was a leader that died young like King Tutankhaten of Egypt.

Rano Kau

This was the final setting for Rapa Nui culture. It was here on the crater's rim that they built the village of Orongo. Up until the 1878 the islanders practiced ancient rights and tests of skill. Most famous was the ritual whereby Rapa Nui would scale down the sheer cliffs, swim through shark infested water and then fast on the tiny islets off shore waiting for the first sooty tern to lay her eggs. The winner of the competition had special rights and privileges granted them for the duration of the following year.

The rocks at Orongo are carved with hundreds of petroglyphs of birdman. The sea birds, especially the frigate bird, became an important symbol for the Rapa Nui. As frigates nested in trees, they became more and more scarce due to the deforestation on the island. Changing weather conditions as well as over hunting also contributed to decrease in the number of other bird species. Although the birdman cult seems to have overtaken the statue building cult there are ties between the two. In on of the houses at Orongo was found an 8' high moai, complete with sacred loin cloth bas relief carved on it. But superimposed over the moai body are birdman and other symbols of the Orongo practitioners. So it appears that the two groups had some how come to terms with the differing beliefs that were present on the island.

I am often asked if I felt anything mystical while on Easter. Often, alone and with the ever-present tradewinda howling in my ears, I felt a deep sense of loss on the island. One feeling kept rising up in me again and again as I climbed among the unfinished moai on the barren walls of Rano Raraku. It was the feeling of failure. I believe the Rapa Nui knew they were special people and in the end they knew they had only themselves to blame.

VIDEO Easter Island

PICTURES Easter Island