Ahu Tongariki

The history of Easter Island, its statues and its peoples, has long been shrouded in mystery. Some have suggested that aliens marooned on earth planted the statues as signals to their fellow aliens to rescue them. Others have said that the statues were constructed by a great race of guilders that were stranded on the island and built them before being rescued. Still others are convinced that an ancient society with the capability of flight constructed them along with the Nazca lines in Peru. However new evidence based on pollen analysis supports a much simpler theory, that the Easter Island inhabitants destroyed their own society through deforestation. When Easter Island was "discovered" by Europeans in 1722, it was a barren landscape with no trees over ten feet in height. The small number of inhabitants, around 2000, lived in a state of civil disorder and were thin and emaciated. Virtually no animals besides rats inhabited the island and the natives lacked sea-worthy boats. Understandably, the Europeans were mystified by the presence of great stone 8 statues, some as high as 33 feet and weighing 82 tons. Even more impressive were the abandoned statues-as tall as 65 feet and weighing as much as 270 tons. How could such a people create, and then move such enormous structures? The answer lies in Easter island's' ecological past, when the island was not a…

The Mystery Of Easter Island One may wonder about the mystery of Easter Island, is it a myth just like mermaids and aliens. Well, the mystery of how the statues got there has been proven in so many ways. Although, the most efficient way is by walking the statues. First and foremost, the Rapanui people never had enough people to move the statues by rolling them. As the text says,”... Lipo and Hunt believe the Rapanui population reached no more than 3,000 people,” (pg.11, ¶1). Also, the text…

Easter Island? How were the heads made and what are they made from? There are 887 Moai heads that have been found on Easter Island, however, the Archaeologists predict that there still could be up to 213 to be discovered. Many researchers believe that the Moai heads were carved between 1200 to 1500. The moai body is made up from compressed volcanic ash called brownstone which is easy to carve. Rapa Nui people used Toki a sharp tool made from rock to carve the moai.the moai eyes are made…

the average rainfall is only about 50 inches per year. According to Dr. Diamond this low compared to other Polynesian islands. If there wasn’t rain the stream on Mt. Teravakas was dried up the people could go collect water from on off shore spring in low tide. According to archaeological surveys, Easter Land, in its peak, was split into 12 tribes. The tribe’s boundaries are split so each tribe has their own valuable resource. Dr. Diamond goes through what some of the boundaries consisted of.…