Sites Around The World: Easter Island

Easter Island is a volcanic Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. It is a special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888. Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called Moai, created by the early Rapanui people. The name “Easter Island” was given by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, the island's first European visitor, who encountered the island on Easter Sunday, 1722. He named the island “Paasch-Eyland”, which is 18th century Dutch for "Easter Island”. The island's official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means "Easter Island".

The Rapa Nui (or Rapanui) are the native inhabitants of Easter Island and make up 60% of the island's population, with some living also on the mainland, Chile. They mostly speak Spanish (which is the most widely spoken language on Easter Island as well as being the primary language of education and administration). The 2002 census counted 3,304 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast. The Rapa Nui's main source of income comes from tourism, which focuses on the giant Moai sculptures.

The Moai are monolithic human statues carved from rock between the 12^th and 15^th century. Nearly half of them are located in Rano Raraku, a volcanic crater and the main Moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. The tallest Moai erected, called Paro, is almost 33 feet high and weighs 82 tons. The heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter Moai at Ahu Tongariki, weighing 86 tons; and one unfinished sculpture, if were completed, would have been approximately 69 feet tall with a weight of about 270 tons.

The Moai are commonly referred to as "Easter Island heads" even though they are whole-body statues. Most of them are buried up to their shoulders so only their heads are visible. Their disproportionate sized heads (a three-to-five ratio between the head and the body, a sculptural trait that demonstrates a cheifly head) make it appear that most Moai are just heads. Some of them  have been excavated, their bodies uncovered, and examined to reveal that they do have a body and markings that have been protected from erosion by their burial.

Characteristics of Moai statues:

• large, broad, elongated noses
• pronounced chins
• heavy brows
• rectangle-shaped ears
• distinctive fish-hook-shaped curl of the nostrils
• deep eye slits
• less eroded Moai have designs carved on their backs and posteriors.
  [The Moai carved from tuff hardly show carvings since tuff is easily eroded. The best place to see the designs are on the few Moai carved from basalt or ones that are buried.]
• some of the moai were painted
  [Hoa Hakananai'a was decorated with maroon and white paint, now housed in the British Museum in London.]
• Material: 834 carved from tuff, 13 carved from basalt, 22 from trachyte,17 from fragile red scoria

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.