Rano Raraku

see their trial and error on what stone was the best for carving. The Rapanuian carvers started out using different types of volcanic stone until they found tuff. Tuff is a consolidated volcanic ash and the best place to find it on Easter was Ran Raraku. The tuff became the rock of choice for carvers. The tuff was hard but had an ash consistency, making it easier to carve the basalt. With tuff being easier to carve then basalt mass production exploded. They could make the moai quicker and…

Throughout the depths of the world’s artistic history, there have been many constants and many outliers. In the past few millennia, one of the former has always been the discovery of sculptural severed heads. Whether they be cast in bronze, carved from marble or stone, or formed from rare precious metals and gems, much of the culture and events can be derived from these findings, many of which were a-‘head’ of their time. The first piece to be highlighted is, uncoincidentally, also the first…