When were the Easter Island statues excavated?
Moai statues on Easter Island at sunrise. The early period is characterized by ahus at Tahai, Vinapu, and Anakena, carbon-dated to about 700–850 ce. The first two were admired and described by Captain Cook; the wall in Anakena remained hidden below ground until it was excavated archaeologically in 1987.
How did the Easter Island statues get there?
So who put the Easter Island statues here? It is believe that it was the Rapa Nui people, Polynesians who sailed here from other pacific islands that put the Easter Island statues there. Although other theories suggest that they could have arrived from South America.
Why did they stop making Easter Island statues?
Cristián Moreno Pakarati, who also trains tour guides on the island, explained that locals stopped making moai during a time of high deforestation. Without trees, islanders had to build specialized rock gardens, which kept the soil humid.
What do historians know about Easter Island statues?
Easter Island’s most dramatic claim to fame is an array of almost 900 giant stone figures that date back many centuries. The statues reveal their creators to be master craftsmen and engineers, and are distinctive among other stone sculptures found in Polynesian cultures.
What is the real mystery of Easter Island?
Hundreds of years ago, a small group of Polynesians rowed their wooden outrigger canoes across vast stretches of open sea, navigating by the evening stars and the day’s ocean swells. When and why these people left their native land remains a mystery.
How did rats get on Easter Island?
Exactly how rats got on to the island is not known, although one theory is that they arrived as stowaways in the first canoes of Polynesian colonists. Once they arrived, the rats found palm nuts offered an almost unlimited high-quality food supply.
What statues are on Easter Island?
Lessons from Easter Island|Carl Lipo|TEDxBermuda
Where are the stone statues on Easter Island?
The statues. Giant stone statues are littered throughout Rapa Nui (Easter Island), a Chilean Island located in the south Pacific Ocean. Their odd shape — large heads with disproportionately small bodies — and seemingly random placement throughout the island has always been a mystery to historians and archaeologists alike.
What is the mystery of Easter Island?
This remote volcanic island has intrigued generations of scholars. Famed for its monolithic statues, Easter Island is shrouded in mystery. Its population—once sizable—collapsed. “The clearest example of a society that destroyed itself by overexploiting its own resources,” is how University of California Los Angeles geographer Jared Diamond once described it.
How many statues does Easter Island have?
The Guardian says that there are 300 statues on Easter Island (also called Rapa Nui) and this started in the 13th century. Easterisland.travel says that each statue can be as tall as 10 meters and weigh 86 tons. Since there are 1000 statues, this is quite an amazing historical feat, especially since they were carved using tools made from stones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4U5Y7MSAJc