You are here Homepage What to do Archaeological Sites Easter Island Statues

Easter Island Statues

Listed under Archaeological Sites in Easter Island, Chile.

Traditionally called moai, more than 390 of these giant, carved, angular eyeless faces litter Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

The statues are carved from compressed volcanic ash. Their construction began around 1000AD. The largest megalith weighs 75 tonnes and is 9.9m tall, most weigh about ten tonnes. In a quarry on the island is an unfinished statue that would have stood 21 meters high and weighed 270 tonnes. Archaeologists have recently discovered that coral eyes originally filled the empty eye sockets.

The mystery is how the inhabitants of Easter island were able to carve, transport and erect these vast megaliths. And then what happened to them (and all the trees on the island...).

Written by World Reviewer Staff.

“Excerpt from 'Many on Easter Island Prefer to Leave Stones Unturned'”

By Larry Rohter for The New York Times First published January 9, 2007 RANO RARAKU, Easter Island — As remnants of a vanished culture and a lure to tourists, the mysterious giant statues that stand as mute sentinels along the rocky coast here are the g… Read more...

Written by press. Full Article from The New York Times

Add comment
Comments, reviews and questions

Everything
Reviews
Comments
Questions

There are no posts. Why not be the first to have your say?

Add a comment, review or question

I've been here
Who's been here

No travelers have told us they have been here. Have you?

Machu Picchu
The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful ancient site…
Petra
Situated in mountainous terrain, the ancient city of Petra is an abandoned necropolis of temples and tombs cut into towering cl…
Tikal
The largest of the ancient Classic Mayan cities is spread out within the El Peten rainforest, in Northeastern Guatemala. The a…

What's nearby

Experiences
Cities & towns
Airports

Riding on Rapa Nui
Tropical beaches. Mystical Moais. Volcanic craters. What a riding vacation on Easter Island lacks in technical challenge, it…
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and its Moai
One of the world's most famous yet least visited archaeological sites, Easter Island is sixty-three square miles in size and lo…
Rano Raraku
Long ago, seafaring Polynesians somehow found and colonized the most remote island in the world, which they called Rapa Nui - t…

world reviewer

Easter Island Statues

“Excerpt from 'Many on Easter Island Prefer to Leave Stones Unturned'”