Archaeologists have discovered that the famous stone heads on Easter Island are actually complete sculptures, with some of the bodies buried underground. Recent excavations have revealed complex engravings on the buried statues, which are thought to represent the ancestors of the Rapa Nui people. The island has nearly 900 moai, which were carved between 1100 and 1500 AD by the native Polynesian inhabitants.
Those famous carved stone heads that dot the hills of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean, aren’t actually just heads—they’re complete sculptures, but some of the statues’ bodies are buried underground. In 2012, archaeologists began unearthing some of the buried statues — known as moai — on the slopes of the Rano Raraku volcanic crater, and found complete figures underneath. These buried statues are some of the most photographed on Easter Island, which has given many people the mistaken impression that the moai are just stone heads, rather than complete bodies. There are around 150 statues buried shoulder deep on the slopes of Rano Raraku, which was also the site of the quarry used to supply the stone for the monolithic sculptures. However, there are nearly 900 moai scattered throughout Easter Island – a remarkable feat of engineering. They were carved out of volcanic rock between 1100 and 1500 AD by the Rapa Nui people, the native Polynesian inhabitants of the island.
A tribute to the ancestors:
Recent excavation work has documented for the first time the complex engravings found on the bodies of buried statues.
Moai on Easter Island vary in size, with the tallest reaching 33 feet (10 meters) and the heaviest weighing over 80 tons. To preserve the unearthed parts of the statues, archaeologists applied chemicals and water repellents.
The moai are thought to represent the ancestors of the indigenous Rapa Nui people. The Rapa Nui would probably have carved a statue whenever an important person died.
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