THE moaithat is, the big ones “stone heads” of theEaster Islandthey are huge statue mostly monolithic in shape, that is, excavated from a single block of volcanic tuff (sometimes from other rocks, such as basalt). Some also have a cylinder in the head, said poopcarved from another type of reddish tuff, which serves as a hat or more likely an elaborate headdress. This type of statue is found only on this remote island, located in the South Pacific Ocean, whose original name is Rapa Nui – which means “big island” – and belongs to Chile, even though it is thousands of kilometers away from South America.
The moai are on average around 30 metres tall. 4 mbut the bigger of all this measure is far greater: it is a statue that in the past it fell and broke into several pieces: is called I’m talking and, if it were still upright and intact, it would reach 9.8 m highmore than a three-story building. It is located in the archaeological complex of Ahu Te Pito Kura and bringing it there was probably a feat for the inhabitants of the island: in fact, it weighs approximately 74 tons and, from the analysis of the rocks it is composed of, it turned out that it was moved to the site along a route of approximately 5 km. Paro has been studied extensively and even digitally reconstructed in 2000.
Who built the moai: the characteristics
The large ceremonial statues present on the island were made by the Rapa Nui population between 1200 and 1500 AD Since these sculptures are embedded in the ground, often only the heads of the statues are visible (which is why they are known as “heads”), but underneath there is almost always a buried bodywith torso and arms (but, except in one case, no legs). Often these statues are also decorated: in fact, symbols are engraved on the back rongorongothe local writing system, which could indicate the identity of the team of stonemasons who created the work or the group who commissioned it.
The ancient Polynesians of Easter Island carved approximately thousand of these statues, transporting around five hundred of them from the volcanic crater of Frog Raraku (or from other similar places, but to a lesser extent) towards various monumental sites on the island, some of which are distant almost 20 km. This is because the huge stone figures were generally erected on platforms Templars (ahu) positioned along the coast. But how did they move them? After years of debate and speculation, it seems that the transport took place in position vertical: This positioning of the center of mass allowed them to “fall forward” and swing from side to side, essentially “walking” to their destination.
The statues are on average about 100 cm tall. 4 mand weigh about ten tons (but can reach up to 80). Among these, inside the archaeological complex of Ahu Te Pito Kurathere is a particularly high one: it is about I’m talkingtouch the 9.8 m high and weighs approximately 74 t (and was moved for over 5 km). Unfortunately there is no photo of Paro in its original form because it is no longer “standing”, but is broken and on the ground, even if it was digitally reconstructed in 2000.
Why some moai statues were not finished
There are many unfinished statues in the main volcanic extraction site. Various reasons have been attributed to this choice: sometimes the sculptors found some imperfections in the rock, some kind of hard lumps in the tuff, and opted for a better material; sometimes these were simply abandoned when, at the end of the era of monumental statues, interest in them also waned. Of course, these unfinished works can still be spectacular: one of these giants only “half-finished” would have been well over 100 feet tall. 21 meters.
Some statues, then, have damaged and I am falls following earthquakes. Unfortunately, we must also talk about the damages derived from colonial invasions: in the years following the arrival of Roggeveen (the Dutch explorer who first arrived on the island) all the moai that had been erected on the ahu were shot down; some standing statues were reported a few decades later, but none remained beyond the mid-19th century (apart from those partially buried on the outer slopes of Rano Raraku).
Some of these great works were later taken by force: 10 or more moai were removed from the island and transported to different locations around the world, in fact we can find them at Louvre Museum in Paris and to the British Museum, Londonwhich has two of them. One of these is called, not by chance, “Hoa Hakananai’a”, that is, “the stolen friend”. Fortunately, for about twenty years there have been several projects, such as theEaster Island Statue Projectwhich aim to study them, map them and ensure their future conservation.
Easter Island Heads: Meaning and Mystery
But what do these large sculptures mean? Most likely they represent the faces of ancestral chiefs (deceased) whose supernatural power went to protect the island community. For this reason they were often placed along the coast and facing inlandso as to keep an eye on the local community. This is also where their nickname comes from herring nowMeaning what “the living faces of the ancestors”.
