Why is Easter Island so famous?

Why is Easter Island so famous?

The island is most famous for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.

What is the purpose of the statues 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.

How did Easter Island get its statues?

Easter Island – The Statues and Rock Art of Rapa Nui. Using basalt stone picks, the Easter Island Moai were carved from the solidified volcanic ash of Rano Raraku volcano. Once completed, the statues were then moved from the quarry to their intended site and erected on an ‘ahu’.

What are the statues on Easter Island called?

The islanders call them “moai,” and they have puzzled ethnographers, archaeologists, and visitors to the island since the first European explorers arrived here in 1722. In their isolation, why did the early Easter Islanders undertake this colossal statue-building effort?

What is the secret of Easter Island?

NOVA Online | Secrets of Easter Island. This is the story of a team of archaeologists and a 75-person crew who sought to unravel a central mystery of Easter Island: how hundreds of giant stone statues that dominate the island’s coast were moved and erected.

What is the mystery about Easter Island?

Deforestation, slavery and rats were all factors in the Pacific island’s population decline. Most people have heard of the decimation of the population of Easter Island (also called Rapa Nui) and have seen pictures of the massive stone statues (moai) that line the coastline.

Why is Easter Island considered a mystery?

The Easter Island mystery is mainly due to its isolation. This made the Rapa Nui culture and history have not been completely unraveled and made the Easter Island myths and legends very relevant. They been transmitted orally by the natives and collected by ancient visitants.

Why the Easter Island statues were built where they were?

According to The Guardian, the statues were built on Easter Island because they’re near water. This is something that has been discovered recently. Carl Lipo, a professor at Birmingham University, told the publication, “Every time we saw massive amounts of freshwater, we saw giant statues. It was ridiculously predictable.”

Easter Island Statue Project. Summary. The primary purpose of the Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) is to shed light on the complexities of prehistory by integrating the monolithic statues of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), that were carved by the ancestors of the current population, into the time line of Rapa Nui prehistory.

What are the statues under water on Easter Island?

Easter Island is home to the mysterious moai – human-like carved statues. Divers can visit one underwater. Mystery surrounds Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. Over 2,000 miles off the coast of Chile, this isolated island was first found by Polynesian explorers sometime between 700-1100 BC.

How many moai statues are there on Easter Island?

About 900 moai statues are located on Easter Island. Most of them are at the Rano Raraku quarry placed around the island, along the shores, like they were put there to guard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4U5Y7MSAJc