Easter Island Moai

Moai at Rano Raraku, Easter Island This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its author, Aurbina at the wikipedia project. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible: Aurbina grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

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Station Number 020. Image ID: geod0096, NOAA's Geodesy Collection. Location: Easter Island, Chile. Most NOAA photos and slides are in the public domain (THIS IMAGE) and cannot be copyrighted. Credit to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

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Moai From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moai are monolithic human figures carved from rock on Rapa Nui / Easter Island, at some time between 1000 and 1700 CE. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku the main Moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on Ahu (platforms) which were mostly at the islands perimeter. Almost all have overly large heads three fifths the size of their body. The Moai are the “living faces” (aringa ora) and representations of chiefly, deified ancestors. Sitting on their Ahus with their backs to the sea, these statues were still gazing across their clan lands when European first visited the island, but most were then cast down during conflict between different clans on the island.

The production and transportation process required significant intellect, use of resources, and creativity, and is considered a remarkable feat of human endeavour. The largest moai erected, "Paro", was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 75 tonnes (74 Imperial tons, 83 short tons) [3] while one unfinished sculpture would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 short tons

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Moai

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