- Address: Easter Island, Chile;
- Manufactured between 1250 and 1500;
- Approximate number: 887 statues;
- Average weight: less than 5 tons;
- Average height: 3-5 m.
One of the wonders of the world, statues of moai, are on Easter Island , located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean. The island belongs to Chile , it got its name, because it was opened by a Dutch navigator on Easter Sunday. In addition to statues, tourists come to see a unique landscape, volcanic craters, beaches with clear blue water.
Moai - description and interesting facts
Everyone has seen the statues on Easter Island in absentia - the photo of the monuments is abundant, but they will not be able to create a full impression, so at the first opportunity you should visit the island and look at them alive.
How many statues are there on Easter Island? Thanks to the constant archaeological excavations, it has already been possible to find about 887 statues. These stone giants with large heads and a shapeless body are scattered all over the island.
What are the statues on Easter Island? Local residents call them moai, attributing to them special forces and believing that the clay is the spiritual strength of the island. It is only thanks to it that good weather is established, success in love and war, the harvesting of a rich crop is possible. Quite often you can hear that the stone statues of the island of Easter themselves choose the place of installation. Mana, the so-called supernatural power, revitalizes the statues, after which they find their place.
What are the statues made on Easter Island? Their appearance dates back to the 13th-16th centuries. Most moai are made from volcanic tuff, which can be easily processed, and only a small part - from trachyte or basalt. Also, there is a statue especially revered by the local population - Hoa-Haka-Nan-Ya, which is made from the mujierite of the Rano Kao volcano.
Where did the statues on Easter Island come from? Obviously, their construction took a lot of time, effort. First, there were legends about the leader of the clan Hotu Matu, who first found the island and settled on it. Only in 1955-1956 the truth was clarified, this happened when the well-known Norwegian archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl visited Easter Island - statues, the origin of which was occupied by the minds of all scientists, was erected by the dying "long-eared" tribe. Such a strange name appeared because of the long earlobes that were decorated with heavy earrings. Since the secret of creating moai was carefully hidden from the indigenous population, the inhabitants attributed them miraculous properties.
As explained to the traveler the surviving representatives of the tribe "long-eared", the monuments of moai were created by their ancestors. They themselves knew the manufacturing process only in theory. But having ceded the requests of Tour Heyerdahl, the representatives of the tribe carved the statue with stone hammers, moved them to a certain place, and raised three logs, laying stones under the base. This technology was passed orally from generation to generation, from an early age children listened to stories of adults and repeated what they remembered. This continued until the children learned the whole process.
Rumors of evil stone idols
The moai statues on Easter Island were accused of extinction of the local population. If you believe one group of scientists, the erection of monuments led to the destruction of the forest, because they were transported on wooden skating rinks. Because of this, the sources of food subsided, and soon there was a famine. This led to an almost complete extinction of the local population. Another group of scientists claims that Polynesian rats became the cause of the disappearance of trees. Modern statues have been restored already in the 20th century, since earthquakes and tsunamis have badly damaged them. A few monuments survived, established by the ancient Rapanui.
Amazing discoveries
At first, stone moai were perceived as mysterious faces set on the slopes of Easter Island. Since archaeologists did not abandon attempts to understand the purpose of idols, excavations began. As a result, when the statues on Easter Island were unearthed, they found that the heads have trunks, the total length of the bodies is about 7 m. At least 150 of the most easily recognizable moai were buried on the shoulders, which deceived the people that only head. Now that the whole world has discovered that they found under the statues on Easter Island, the flow of tourists has only increased, which the locals are very happy about, because tourism is the main source of income for the island.