Who built the moai statues on Easter Island?

The Moai are a collection of large monolithic statues built by the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.

Why were the moai statues built on Easter Island?

Moai statues were built to honor chieftain or other important people who had passed away. They were placed on rectangular stone platforms called ahu, which are tombs for the people that the statues represented.

When were the moai on Easter Island built?

The moai of Rapa Nui The moai were probably carved to commemorate important ancestors and were made from around 1000 C.E. until the second half of the seventeenth century. Over a few hundred years the inhabitants of this remote island quarried, carved and erected around 887 moai.

Who built Easter Island heads?

Easter Island is home to 887 monolithic carvings, called moai statues. The moai were built by the Rapa Nui, who were native to the island, somewhere between the years 1400-1650.

Why are there no trees on Easter Island?

Easter Island was covered with palm trees for over 30,000 years, but is treeless today. There is good evidence that the trees largely disappeared between 1200 and 1650. However there is evidence the Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans) was present from 900 and it seems clear that these rats caused widespread deforestation.

What really happened on Easter Island?

According to Easter Island: The Truth Revealed, approximately 1,500 to 2,000 people – half the population – were taken in 1862 in a raid by slave traders from Peru to work there, predominately in agriculture. They brought disease with them and much of the remaining population was decimated.

What does moai stand for?

listen), or moai (Spanish: moái, Rapa Nui: moʻai, meaning “statue” in Rapa Nui), are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500.

Are there any Easter Islanders left?

The Rapa Nui are the indigenous Polynesian people of Easter Island. At the 2017 census there were 7,750 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast.

What did the moai represent?

They stand with their backs to the sea and are believed by most archaeologists to represent the spirits of ancestors, chiefs, or other high-ranking males who held important positions in the history of Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, the name given by the indigenous people to their island in the 1860s.

What is the tallest moai in the world?

The tallest moai erected, called Paro, was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 82 tons; the heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter moai at Ahu Tongariki, weighing 86 tons; and one unfinished sculpture, if completed, would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 tons.

How were the moai moved?

With one rope around the head of the statue and another around the base, they ” walked” the moai replica forward by swiveling and rocking it from side to side. Using this method, Pavel Pavel estimated that an experienced crew could move a statue approximately 650 feet each day.

How did the moai statues fall?

Construction of the moai statues appears to have stopped around the time of European contact in 1722, when Dutch explorers landed on Easter Day. Over the next century the moai would fall over, either intentionally pushed over or from simple neglect.

Is Easter Island safe?

Is Easter Island safe? It’s hard to think of any safer place than Easter Island. Tourists that are victims to violent crimes such as robbery, rape or murder is unheard of. Unless you’re looking for a fight, you can walk by yourself at night without worrying about your safety.

Who lives on Easter Island today?

Today, the people living on Easter Island are largely descendants of the ancient Rapa Nui (about 60%) and run the bulk of the tourism and conservation efforts on the island. Many locals living on Easter Island have livelihoods that involve the water—which makes sense!

Does anyone live on Easter Island today?

About 5,000 people live on Easter Island today, and thousands of tourists come to see the anthropomorphic “moai” statues each year.