Easter Island Statues
by Jerry Camarillo Dunn, Jr
Browse the article Easter Island StatuesEaster Island Statues
The gargantuan stone figures gaze across Easter Island through eyes hooded in shadow, eyes that veil an ancient, mysterious past. The place where they stand floats alone in the South Pacific, about 2,000 miles from the coast of Chile. It is the most remote inhabited island on Earth.
The statues, called moai, average 23 feet tall, with the largest one measuring an incredible 69 feet. Many of the figures originally stood on stone platforms, and some wear topknots of reddish stone, which some archaeologists believe represents a male hairstyle once common on the island. The huge topknots weigh as much as two elephants, yet they were somehow set in place atop the figures.
©Dreamstime
Tuff from Easter Island's three extinct
volcanoes provided raw material for
islanders to carve these figures.
See more pictures of Easter Island.
Scholars believe that Marquesas islanders migrated to Rapa Nui (the island's original Polynesian name) before A.D. 400. According to local legend, however, there were two groups of early settlers -- known as the Long Ears and the Short Ears -- that came from different directions.
It isn't clear which group carved the moai, but conflict between them led to the extermination of the Long Ears and damaged many monuments. Later, rival clans that owned the statues toppled the moai to offend and anger each other. Today fallen statues lie scattered around the island. In the 20th century some were restored to their upright positions.
Of the island's 887 moai, nearly half are partially carved figures that still remain in the island's quarry, lying horizontally, face up. Shaping even a medium-size statue probably took two teams of men at least a year. Each figure was then detached, lowered down a cliff, and somehow moved a great distance to its site -- perhaps hauled on a tree-trunk sledge, transported on wooden rollers, or rolled on round stones. Finally, the immense figure had to be raised upright on an elevated platform.
Originally, the statues of Easter Island did not have the blank, empty eyes seen today, but orbs of inlaid coral and rock. Upon what lost world did they gaze?
Here are links to dozens of other world-famous landmarks:
Abu Simbel, EgyptEiffel Tower, FranceThe Leaning Tower of Pisa, ItalyRoman and Georgian Bath, EnglandThe Alhambra, SpainEllora Caves, IndiaMachu Picchu, PeruSt. Mark’s Basilica, ItalyAngkor Wat, CambodiaThe Forbidden City, ChinaMont-St.-Michel, FranceSt. Paul’s Cathedral, EnglandArc de Triomphe, FranceThe Golden Pavilion, JapanNeuschwanstein Castle, GermanySt. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, ItalyBorobudur, IndonesiaThe Great Buddha, JapanPalace of Versailles, FranceShwedagon Pagoda, MyanmarChartres Cathedral, FranceThe Great Wall of China, ChinaThe Pantheon, ItalyStonehenge, EnglandChrist the Redeemer Statue, BrazilGuggenheim Museum, Bilbao, SpainThe Parthenon and the Acropolis, GreeceSydney Opera House, AustraliaCN Tower, CanadaHagia Sophia, TurkeyPetra, JordanThe Taj Mahal, IndiaThe Colosseum, ItalyHouses of Parliament, EnglandPompeii, ItalyThe Temple at Karnak, EgyptThe Dome of the Rock, IsraelThe Kaaba and Al-Haram Mosque, Saudi ArabiaPotala Palace, ChinaThe Terra-cotta Army, ChinaEaster Island Statues, ChileKrak des Chevaliers, SyriaThe Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx, Egypt
Edinburgh Castle, ScotlandThe Kremlin and Red Square, RussiaPyramids of the Sun and Moon at Teotihuacán, Mexico
To learn more about other landmarks and vacation destinations, see:
- Famous Landmarks
- National Monuments
- National Historic Sites
- History of South America
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jerry Camarillo Dunn Jr., has worked with the National Geographic Society for more than 20 years, starting as a staff editor, writer, and columnist at Traveler magazine, then writing travel guides. His latest work is National Geographic Traveler: San Francisco. Dunn’s Smithsonian Guide to Historic America: The Rocky Mountain States has sold more than 100,000 copies. His travel pieces appear in newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and The Boston Globe. Jerry Dunn's stories have won three Lowell Thomas Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers -- the highest honor in the field. He also wrote and hosted a pilot episode for a travel show produced by WGBH, Boston's public television station.