Easter Island was first explored by the Dutch who found it on Easter Day 1722. At that time there were probably 2-3 thousand inhabitants. A civil war due to overpopulation and deforestation started their decline in numbers. The Peruvian slave raiding in the 1860’s and European diseases further reduced the population so that by 1877 there were only 111 inhabitants. It was annexed by Chile in 1888 and now about 60% of the population of 8000 are descendants of the original Rapa Nui.
The reason most people want to visit this island it to see the Moai heads (pronounced Mo-eye). The Rapa Nui carved these monolithic statues to honor ancestors. They believed that if the deceased had ‘mana’ or a supernatural power or a close relationship to the gods they needed to honor that person with a Moai. The quarry was the sides of a volcano where they carved the statues in the rock then gradually they would carve out the rock from under the front of the statue until it could be moved. These are not just heads but whole bodies, with 2/3 buried underground due to natural erosions and soil deposits.
Transportation from the quarry to the prepared site for each statue is a mystery since some of these Moai were 20-30 feet tall and weighed up to 80 tons. It’s possible they cut down trees and used them to roll the statue to its site or they may have stood it up and rocked it back and forth to move it. Either of these methods would explain the deforestation that took place. They were placed looking towards the land as this allowed them to look over their descendants. Some of these stones are over 1,600 years old.
Ahh Tongariki is the largest platform with 15 statues. They were knocked down by a tsunami in 1960 but have since been restored. The largest, 89 ton, Moai is here. The ‘hats’ are really the Moai hair put up in a man-bun.
Rank Raradu Quarry is where 95% of the heads were carved. Almost 400 statues are around the crater in various stages of completion.
Tents in the background where we enjoyed our barbecue dinner & entertainment.
Anakena Beach is protected and used by many locals. The statues here represent the seven sons of a king.
A barbecue lunch was waiting for us on the beach and the entertainment following the meal was so much fun. It brought to mind the Disney movie “Moana”.
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