How many structures are on Easter Island?

It’s said that the origin of the very first moai, or Easter Island statues, dates back to the year 700 AD and continues on until 1600 AD. There are more than 900 of these volcanic rock structures position all over the island.

Do the Easter Island heads have names?

The statues, whose traditional name is “moai,” were carved from volcanic rock between A.D. 1100 and 1500 by ancient Polynesians. The new excavation work intends to document for the first time the complex carvings found on the buried statues’ bodies, which have been protected from weathering by their burial.

What is the population of Easter Island 2020?

About 5,000 people live on Easter Island today, and thousands of tourists come to see the anthropomorphic “moai” statues each year.

How did the Easter Island heads get there?

Easter Island – The Statues and Rock Art of Rapa Nui. Using basalt stone picks, the Easter Island Moai were carved from the solidified volcanic ash of Rano Raraku volcano. Once completed, the statues were then moved from the quarry to their intended site and erected on an ‘ahu’.

Why are there no trees on Easter Island?

When it rains on the island, also known as Rapa Nui, the water rapidly drains through the porous volcanic soil, leaving the grass dry again. That’s one reason why the island at the end of the world has stayed almost entirely bare, with no trees or shrubs.

Are there any Easter Islanders left?

The Rapa Nui are the indigenous Polynesian people of Easter Island. At the 2017 census there were 7,750 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast. As of 2011, Rapa Nui’s main source of income derived from tourism, which focuses on the giant sculptures called moai.

Is it true Easter Island heads have bodies?

As a part of the Easter Island Statue Project, the team excavated two moai and discovered that each one had a body, proving, as the team excitedly explained in a letter, “that the ‘heads’ on the slope here are, in fact, full but incomplete statues.”

Why did they build the moai?

Moai statues were built to honor chieftain or other important people who had passed away. They were placed on rectangular stone platforms called ahu, which are tombs for the people that the statues represented.

How do you say hello in Easter Island?

Hello. Pe hē ‘Iorana. ‘Iorana.

What language is spoken on Easter Island?

Ever since Chile annexed Easter Island more than a century ago, the Spanish language has been chipping away at the Polynesian-based language called Rapa Nui. But these tourists, fuelling the island’s economy, are also diluting the culture they came to see.

Do the Rapa Nui people still exist?

The Rapa Nui are the indigenous Polynesian people of Easter Island. At the 2017 census there were 7,750 island inhabitants—almost all living in the village of Hanga Roa on the sheltered west coast.

What is the tallest moai?

Paro
The tallest moai erected, called Paro, was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 82 tonnes (80.7 tons).

How many figures are on Easter Island?

The 887 monolithic human figures carved from rock on Easter Island (known as moai ) are familiar to many people through iconic images that show the statues to be either just heads or a combination of heads and shoulders only:

What is the population of Easter Island?

Study: Easter Island May Have Had Population of 17,500 in Its Heyday. Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is located in the easternmost corner of the Polynesian Triangle and is one of the most isolated locations on Earth inhabited by humans. The island has been surrounded in mystery ever since the Europeans first landed in 1722.

What are some interesting facts about Easter Island?

Interesting Facts on Easter Island Easter Island is one of the world’s most famous yet least visited archaeological sites. Easter Island is a small, hilly and treeless island of volcanic origin. Easter Island is sixty-three square miles in size and has three extinct volcanoes, the tallest rising to 1674 feet.

What are the names of the statues on Easter Island?

Prev Article Next Article. The Moai statues are also known as ‘moai’, ‘Easter Island heads’ and ‘Easter Island statues’, are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people between the years 1250 and 1500 CE. The Moai statues are located on Easter Island, or ‘Rapa Nui’ as the indigenous call it, a Polynesian island in the Pacific Ocean .