The Mysteries of the Easter Island Statues
Explorers in the 18th century hoped to find something monumental, perhaps outlandish. When sailors made landfall on a tiny remote island, they found much more than they could have imagined: a land with a mysterious past and monumental statues that seemed far beyond their imaginations.
Rapa Nui, or Easter Island as it was to become known, is the Polynesian island found in the southeast Pacific Ocean. Easter Island is considered to be one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands. Easter Island is prominently known for its famous mystery of the Moai statues, built in approximately 1400AD. The stone blocks, carved into large body figures are on average 30 feet tall and weigh a substantial, 30 tons …show more content…
Even so, not one person could explain why or how the great stone figures were erected (Routledge, 1998). The mystery of who built the statues is not as significant as why they built the statues, and how they transported them.
Many of the Easter Island researchers, including Jo Anne Van Tilberg, the previous director of the Easter Island Project, lecturer and archaeologist, believes that each of the statues, possibly represent the head of a family or represent other important people who had passed away (Lee, Cynthia, 2012). The reason of what they represent can only be assumed and concluded without too much evidence by historians and …show more content…
It is believed that due to no evidence found of who constructed the hundreds of Moai, it is unlikely that it would have been any other tribe than the island inhibitors, the Rapa Nui people. Few Rapa Nui people lived to tell their stories behind the creating of the statues, which have been passed down for centuries. The majority of the people of Easter Island are unanimous that the Rapa Nui people constructed the statues in representation of their elders and leaders. The transport mode believed to have been the most efficient for the islanders was the transportation on rollers, where several archaeologists demonstrated how it was the most possible and easiest mode of transport for even an impoverished
Explorers in the 18th century hoped to find something monumental, perhaps outlandish. When sailors made landfall on a tiny remote island, they found much more than they could have imagined: a land with a mysterious past and monumental statues that seemed far beyond their imaginations.
Rapa Nui, or Easter Island as it was to become known, is the Polynesian island found in the southeast Pacific Ocean. Easter Island is considered to be one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands. Easter Island is prominently known for its famous mystery of the Moai statues, built in approximately 1400AD. The stone blocks, carved into large body figures are on average 30 feet tall and weigh a substantial, 30 tons …show more content…
Even so, not one person could explain why or how the great stone figures were erected (Routledge, 1998). The mystery of who built the statues is not as significant as why they built the statues, and how they transported them.
Many of the Easter Island researchers, including Jo Anne Van Tilberg, the previous director of the Easter Island Project, lecturer and archaeologist, believes that each of the statues, possibly represent the head of a family or represent other important people who had passed away (Lee, Cynthia, 2012). The reason of what they represent can only be assumed and concluded without too much evidence by historians and …show more content…
It is believed that due to no evidence found of who constructed the hundreds of Moai, it is unlikely that it would have been any other tribe than the island inhibitors, the Rapa Nui people. Few Rapa Nui people lived to tell their stories behind the creating of the statues, which have been passed down for centuries. The majority of the people of Easter Island are unanimous that the Rapa Nui people constructed the statues in representation of their elders and leaders. The transport mode believed to have been the most efficient for the islanders was the transportation on rollers, where several archaeologists demonstrated how it was the most possible and easiest mode of transport for even an impoverished