Moai on Easter Island

The Moai statues of Easter Island are as emblematic of their homeland as the pyramids are of Egypt, and according to most recent research, began to be erected relatively soon after the arrival of the island’s first human colonists in the 12th century. The statues are carved from tuff (compacted volcanic ash) excavated from a single quarry at Ranu Raraku in the east of the island. The Rapa Nui, the people who inhabited the island, were divide into clans, each of whom were allocated a quarrying site at Ranu Raraku. Some 900 of the statues were erected over the 300 years of their creation reaching a maximum height of 10 metres (33 ft) and maximum weight of 80 tons, while an average Moai stood some 4 metres (13 ft) tall and weighed 12 tons. Many of the original statues were painted, had inset eyes composed of coral and obsidian, and wore phukao (topknots). There has been much speculation about how these massive objects were moved (often several miles) from the quarry to the erection sites along the coast. Currently, it is believed they were “walked” upright with the aid of log rollers. After first contact with Europeans in 1722, the islanders became prey to diseases such as smallpox, destructive invasive species and slave raiders, resulting in depopulation and societal breakdown, an expression of which was the toppling of all the statues.