Moai
Mysteries of Easter Island

(from the series "On the outskirts of the planet")

Moai(statue, idol, idol [from Rapanui language]) - stone monolithic statues on the Pacific island Easter, belonging to Chile. Made by the aboriginal Polynesian population between 1250 and 1500. There are currently 887 known statues.

Earlier moai were installed on ceremonial and funerary platforms ahu along the perimeter of the island, or simply in open areas. It is possible that the transportation of some statues was never completed. Such ahu Now there are 255 pieces. Ranging in length from a few meters to 160 m, they could accommodate from one small statue to an impressive row of giants. On the biggest one, ahu Tongariki, 15 moai installed. Less than a fifth of all statues were installed on ahu. Unlike the statues from Rano Raraku, whose gaze is directed down the slope, the moai look ahu into the depths of the island, or rather, at the village that once stood in front of them. Many broken and intact statues ended up inside the platforms during their reconstruction. Also, apparently, many are still buried in the ground.

Location of ahu burial grounds on the island

Now they are restoring the process of periodically dismantling the statues to transfer them to new pedestals, as well as their final burial under the rubble of stone. Almost half or 45% of all moai (394 or 397) remained in Rano Raraku. Some were not completely cut down or they were originally supposed to remain in this position, while others were installed on stone-lined platforms on the outer and inner slopes of the crater. Moreover, 117 of them are located on the internal slope. Previously, it was believed that all these moai remained unfinished or they did not have time to be sent to another place. It is now assumed that they were intended for this place. They also weren't going to make eyes. Later these statues were buried deluvium (accumulation of loose rock weathering products) from the slope of a volcano.

In the mid-19th century, all moai outside Rano Raraku and many in the quarry were knocked over or fell due to natural causes (earthquakes, tsunami impacts). Now about 50 statues have been restored at ceremonial sites or in museums elsewhere. In addition, now one statue has eyes, since it was established that in the deep eye sockets of the moai there were once inserts of white coral and black obsidian, the latter could be replaced by black, but then reddened pumice.

Quarry and statues on the slope of Rano Raraku

The majority of the moai (834 or 95%) were carved into large-block tachylyte basalt tuff from the volcano's quarry Rano Raraku. It is possible that some of the statues come from deposits of other volcanoes, which contain similar stone and are closer to the installation sites. Several small statues are made of another stone: 22 - from trachyte; 17 - from red basalt pumice of the volcano Ohio(in the bay Anakena) and from other deposits; 13 - from basalt; 1 - from mujerite volcano Rano Kao. The latter is a particularly revered 2.42 m high statue from a cult place Orongo, known as Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia . Since 1868 it has been in the British Museum. Round cylinders "pukao"(tuft of hair) on the heads of the statues are made of basalt pumice from the volcano Puna Pao. Not all moai mounted on ahu were equipped with red (originally black) pukao cylinders. They were made only where there were deposits of pumice on nearby volcanoes.

Statue of Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia 2.42 m high. Front and back views

If we talk about the weight of the moai, then in many publications it is greatly overestimated. This is due to the fact that for the calculations we take basalt itself (volumetric mass about 3-3.2 g/cubic cm), and not those light basalt rocks that are indicated above and from which the statues are made (less than 1.4 g/cubic cm .cm, rarely 1.7 g/cc). Small trachyte, basalt and mujerite statues are indeed made of hard and heavy material.

The usual size of a moai is 3-5 m. The average width of the base is 1.6 m. The average weight of such statues is less than 5 tons (although the indicated weight is 12.5-13.8 tons). Less commonly, the height of the statues is 10-12 m. No more than 30-40 statues weigh more than 10 tons.

The tallest of the newly installed ones is the moai. Paro on ahu Te Pito Te Kura, 9.8 m high. And the heaviest of the same category is the moai on ahu Tongariki. Their weight, as is customary, is greatly overestimated (82 and 86 tons, respectively). Although all such statues are now easily installed by a 15-ton crane. The tallest statues of the island are located on the outer slope of the volcano Rano Raraku. Of these, the largest is Piropiro, 11.4 m.

Ahu Tongariki

In general, the largest statue is El Gigante, measuring about 21 m (according to various sources - 20.9 m, 21.6 m, 21.8 m, 69 feet). They give an approximate weight of 145-165 tons and 270 tons. It is located in a quarry and is not separated from the base.

The weight of stone cylinders is no more than 500-800 kg, less often 1.5-2 tons. Although, for example, a cylinder 2.4 m high in Moai Paro is overestimated and is estimated to weigh 11.5 tons.

The largest statue is El Gigante, measuring about 21 m in Rano Raraku

The well-known style of statues from the middle period of the history of Easter Island did not appear immediately. It was preceded by the styles of monuments of the Early Period, which are divided into four types.
Type 1 - tetrahedral, sometimes flattened stone heads of rectangular cross-section. There is no torso. Material - yellowish-gray tuff Rano Raraku.
Type 2 - long pillars of rectangular cross-section with the image of an unrealistic full-length figure and disproportionately short legs. Found only one completed sample on ahu Vinapa, originally two-headed. The other two unfinished ones are in quarries Tuu-Tapu. Material - red pumice.
Type 3 - the only example of a realistic kneeling figure made of tuff Rano Raraku. Found there, in the dumps of ancient quarries.
Type 4 - represented by a large number of torsos, prototypes of statues of the Middle Period. Made from hard, dense black or gray basalt, reddish pumice, tuff Rano Raraku and mujeerita. They are distinguished by a convex and even pointed base. That is, they were not intended to be installed on pedestals. They were dug into the ground. They did not have a separate pukao and elongated earlobes. Three fine specimens of hard basalt and mujerite were removed and are in British Museum in London , V Otago Museum in Dunedin and in Brussels 50th Anniversary Museum .

On the right is one of the early moai examples. Left - An early basalt statue, the Moai Hawa, from the British Museum on display in Liverpool

The statues of the Middle Period are an improved version of the smaller statues of the previous period. Contrary to popular belief, the faces depicted on them are not European, but purely Polynesian. Excessively elongated heads appeared due to the disproportionate stretching of later monuments in pursuit of ever greater height. At the same time, the ratio of length to width of the nose (bottom) remains “Asian”. Beginning with Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia, also some statues of the Middle Period were covered with carvings. It includes maro - an image on the back resembling a loincloth, complemented by a circle and an M-shaped figure. Easterers interpret this design as “sun, rainbow and rain.” These are standard elements for statues. Other designs are more varied. There may be something like a collar on the front, although of course the figures are naked. Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia on the back there are also images of “ao” oars, vulvas, a bird and two bird-men. It is believed that images related to the cult of the birdman appeared already in the Middle period. One statue from the slope Rano Raraku has on the back and chest images of a three-masted reed ship or, according to another version, a European ship. However, many statues may not have retained their images due to severe erosion of the soft stone. There were also images on some cylinders pukao . Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia, in addition, was painted with maroon and white paint, which was washed off when the statue was moved to the museum.

Middle period statue with reconstructed eyes

Later Middle Period statues at Rano Raraku

It was obvious that the manufacture and installation of moai required enormous expenditures of money and labor, and Europeans for a long time could not understand who made the statues, with what tools and how they moved.

Island legends speak of a clan chief Hotu Matu'a , who left home in search of a new one and found Easter Island. When he died, the island was divided between his six sons, and then between his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Residents of the island believe that the statues contain the supernatural power of the ancestors of this clan ( mana ). The concentration of mana will lead to good harvests, rain and prosperity. These legends are constantly changing and are passed down in fragments, making it difficult to reconstruct the exact history.

The most widely accepted theory among researchers was that the moai were erected by settlers from the Polynesian islands in the 11th century. Moai could represent deceased ancestors or give strength to living chiefs, as well as symbols of clans.

In 1955-1956 famous Norwegian traveler Thor Heyerdahl organized the Norwegian archaeological expedition to Easter Island. One of the main aspects of the project was experiments in carving, dragging and installing moai statues. As a result, the secret of creating, moving and installing statues was revealed. The creators of the moai turned out to be an endangered native tribe. long-eared ", which got its name because they had a custom of lengthening the earlobes with the help of heavy jewelry, which for centuries kept the secret of creating statues secret from the main population of the island - the tribe." short-eared " As a result of this secrecy, the Short Ears surrounded the statues with mystical superstitions, which misled Europeans for a long time. Heyerdahl saw similarities in the style of the statues and some other works of the islanders with South American motifs. He attributed this to the influence of the culture of the Peruvian Indians or even the origin of the “long-ears” from the Peruvians.

Photo illustration from Thor Heyerdahl’s book “The Mystery of Easter Island” 1959

At the request of Thor Heyerdahl, a group of the last “long-ears” living on the island, led by Pedro Atana . placed under the base, and three logs used as levers. When asked why they did not tell European researchers about this earlier, their leader replied that “no one asked me about this before.” The natives - participants in the experiment - reported that for several generations no one had made or installed statues, but from early childhood they were taught by their elders, orally telling them how to do it, and forcing them to repeat what was told until they were convinced that the children remembered everything exactly.

One of the key issues was the tool. It turned out that while the statues were being made, a supply of stone hammers was being made at the same time. The statue is literally knocked out of the rock by frequent blows, while the stone hammers are destroyed simultaneously with the rock and are continuously replaced with new ones.

It remained a mystery why the “short-eared” people say in their legends that the statues “arrived” at their installation sites in a vertical position. Czech explorer Pavel Pavel put forward a hypothesis that the moai “walked” by turning over, and in 1986, together with Thor Heyerdahl, he conducted an additional experiment in which a group of 17 people with ropes quickly moved a 10-ton statue in a vertical position. Anthropologists repeated the experiment in 2012, filming it on video.

In 2012, American researchers successfully repeated the experiment with a 5-ton “walking” statue

A small island in the South Pacific Ocean, the territory of Chile, is one of the most mysterious corners of our planet. We are talking about Easter Island. Hearing this name, you immediately think of the cult of birds, the mysterious writings of Kohau Rongorongo and the Cyclopean stone platforms of Ahu. But the most important attraction of the island can be called the moai, which are giant stone heads.

There are a total of 997 strange statues on Easter Island. Most of them are placed quite chaotically, but some are lined up in rows. The appearance of stone idols is unique, and the Easter Island statues cannot be confused with anything else. Huge heads on puny bodies, faces with characteristic powerful chins and facial features as if carved with an ax - all these are moai statues.

Moai reach a height of five to seven meters. There are some specimens that are ten meters tall, but there are only a few of them on the island. Despite such dimensions, the weight of the statue on average is no more than 5 tons. Such low weight is due to the material from which all moai are made. To create the statue, they used volcanic tuff, which is much lighter than basalt or some other heavy stone. This material is closest in structure to pumice, somewhat reminiscent of a sponge and crumbles quite easily.

Easter Island was discovered by Admiral Roggeveen in 1722. In his notes, the admiral indicated that the aborigines held ceremonies in front of stone heads, lit fires and fell into a trance-like state, swaying back and forth. What were moai for the islanders, they never found out, but most likely the stone sculptures served as idols. Researchers also suggest that the stone sculptures could be statues of deceased ancestors.

In subsequent years, interest in the island declined. In 1774, James Cook arrived on the island and discovered that over the years some of the statues had been knocked over. Most likely this was due to a war between Aboriginal tribes, but official confirmation was never obtained.

The standing idols were last seen in 1830. A French squadron then arrived on Easter Island. After this, the statues, erected by the islanders themselves, were never seen again. All of them were either overturned or destroyed.

All the moai that are currently on the island were restored in the 20th century. The latest restoration work took place relatively recently - between 1992 and 1995.

It still remains a mystery who created all these stone faces and why, whether there is any meaning in the chaotic placement of statues on the island, and why some of the statues were overturned. There are many theories that answer these questions, but none of them have been officially confirmed.

Local aborigines could clarify the situation if they lived to this day. The fact is that in the mid-19th century, a smallpox epidemic broke out on the island, which was brought from the continent. The disease wiped out the islanders...

Easter Island was and remains a truly “blank” spot on the map of the globe. It is difficult to find a piece of land similar to it that would keep so many secrets that most likely will never be solved.

Video about how they were possibly moved...

P.S. Here's another photo I found... full-length, so to speak :)

Or the tuffite of the Rano Raraku volcano quarry ( Rano Raraku). It is possible that some of the statues come from deposits of other volcanoes, which contain similar stone and are closer to the installation sites. There is no such material on the Poike Peninsula. Therefore, few small statues there are made from local rocks. Several small statues are made of another stone: 22 - from trachyte; 17 - from red basaltic pumice of the Ohio volcano, in Anakena Bay, and from other deposits; 13 - from basalt; 1 - from mujerite of Rano Kao volcano. The latter is a particularly revered 2.42 m tall statue from the cult site of Orongo, known as Hoa Haka Nana Ia ( Hoa Hakananai'a) . Since 1868 it has been in the British Museum. The round pukao (hair bun) cylinders on the heads of the statues are made from basalt pumice from the Puna Pao volcano.

Ahu Tongariki

Size and weight

In many publications, the weight of the moai is greatly overestimated. This is due to the fact that for the calculations, basalt itself is taken (volumetric mass about 3-3.2 g/cm³), and not those light basalt rocks listed above (less than 1.4 g/cm³, rarely 1.7 g/cm³). cm³). Small trachyte, basalt and mujerite statues are indeed made of hard and heavy material.

The usual size of a moai is 3-5 m. The average width of the base is 1.6 m. The average weight of such statues is less than 5 tons (although weights are indicated at 12.5-13.8 tons). Less commonly, the height of the statues is 10-12 m. No more than 30-40 statues weigh more than 10 tons.

The tallest of the newly installed ones is the Paro Moai ( Paro) na ahu Te-Pito-Te-Kura ( Ahu Te Pito Te Kura), 9.8 m high. And the heaviest of the same category is the moai on ahu Tongariki. Their weight, as is customary, is greatly overestimated (82 and 86 tons, respectively). Although all such statues are now easily installed by a 15-ton crane.

The tallest statues are on the outer slope of the Rano Raraku volcano. Of these, the largest is Piropiro, 11.4 m.

In general, the largest statue is El Gigante, measuring about 21 m (according to various sources - 20.9 m, 21.6 m, 21.8 m, 69 feet). They give an approximate weight of 145-165 tons and 270 tons. It is located in a quarry and is not separated from the base.

The weight of stone cylinders is no more than 500-800 kg, less often 1.5-2 tons. Although, for example, a cylinder 2.4 m high in Moai Paro is overestimated and is estimated to weigh 11.5 tons.

Location

Almost half or 45% of all moai (394 or 397) remained in Rano Raraku. Some were not completely cut down, but others were installed on stone-lined platforms on the outer and inner slopes of the crater. Moreover, 117 of them are located on the internal slope. All these moai remained unfinished or did not have time to be sent to another place. Later they were buried by colluvium from the slope of the volcano. The remaining statues were installed on ahu ceremonial and funerary platforms around the island's perimeter, or their transportation was never completed. There are now 255 ahus. Ranging in length from a few meters to 160 m, they could accommodate from one small statue to an impressive row of giants. The largest of them, Ahu Tongariki, has 15 moai. Less than a fifth of all statues were installed on ahu. Unlike the statues from Rano Raraku, whose gaze is directed down the slope, the moai on the ahu look deep into the island, or more precisely, at the village that once stood in front of them. Many broken and intact statues ended up inside the platforms during their reconstruction. Also, apparently, many are still buried in the ground.

Statue with reconstructed eyes.

Early Moai

Moai Hoa Haka Nana Ia

Moai Hoa Haka Nana Ia

Not all moai mounted on ahu were equipped with red (originally black) pukao cylinders. They were made only where there were deposits of pumice on nearby volcanoes.

Watercolor drawing by Pierre Loti dedicated to Miss Sarah Bernhardt. The drawing has the inscription “Easter Island January 7, 1872 at approximately 5 o’clock in the morning: the islanders are watching my sailing. The island depicts moai, stone idols of Easter Island, skulls, ua (Rapanui clubs), as well as the Rapanui people themselves, whose bodies are decorated with tattoos.

Island stones in local terms

They are arranged in the order in which the strength of the rocks decreases.

1) Maea mataa(maea - stone, mataa - tip [Rapanui]) - obsidian.

Maea rengo rengo- chalcedony and flint pebbles.

2) Maea nevhive- black heavy stone (black granite according to W. Thomson), in fact these are trachybasalt xenoliths. He went for big chops.

Maea toki- basaltic xenoliths of basic and ultrabasic rocks included in tuffs and tuff conglomerates. Used for hammers and choppers.

3) Hawaiiite (andesite) basaltic lavas and mujerite (a type of basaltic tuff according to F. P. Krendelev); maybe also trachyte (this is not basalt) - used for several small statues. Most likely, these breeds belong to “Maea Pupura”, point 4.

4) Maea pupura- flagstone of andesitic basaltic tuffs, used for the manufacture of fences, house walls and monumental ahu platforms.

5) Maea Matariki- large-block tachylyte basalt tuff or tuffite, which was used to make the bulk of moai statues. The size of the blocks determined the size of the statue.

6) Kirikiri-tea- soft gray basalt tuff, used to make paint.

Maea hane-hane- black, then reddening basalt pumice, used for pukao hairstyles, some statues, in construction, for paints and abrasives.

Pahoehoe- pumice of andesitic basalts (Tahitian).

see also

Notes

Literature

• Krendelev F. P., Kondratov A. M. Silent guardians of secrets: Mysteries of Easter Island. - Novosibirsk: “Science”, Siberian Branch, 1990. - 181 p. (Series “Man and the Environment”). - ISBN 5-02-029176-5
• Krendelev F. P. Easter Island. (Geology and problems). - Novosibirsk: “Science”, Siberian branch, 1976.
• Heyerdahl T. Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the Eastern Pacific Ocean (2 volumes of scientific reports)
• Heyerdahl T. Easter Island art. - M.: Art, 1982. - 527 p.
• Heyerdahl T. Easter Island: A Mystery Solved (Random House, 1989)
• Jo Anne Van Tilburg. Easter Island Archaeology, Ecology and Culture. - London and Washington: D.C. British Museum Press and Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. -

On easter island there are mysterious giants called “moai” in the local language. Silently they rise on the shore, lined up and looking towards the shore. These giants are like an army defending their possessions. Despite all the simplicity of the figures, the moai are fascinating. These sculptures look especially powerful in the rays of the setting sun, when only huge silhouettes emerge...

Location of Easter Island statues:

The giants stand on one of the most unusual islands of our planet - Easter. It has the shape of a triangle with sides of 16, 24, and 18 kilometers. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it is thousands of miles away from the nearest civilized country (the nearest neighbor is 3,000 km away). Local residents belong to three different races - blacks, redskins and, finally, completely white people.

The island is now a small piece of land - only 165 square meters, but at the time the statues were erected, Easter Island was 3 or even 4 times larger. Some part of it, like Atlantis, went under water. In good weather, some areas of the flooded land are visible at depth. There is an absolutely incredible version: the ancestor of all humanity - the continent of Lemuria - sank 4 million years ago, and Easter Island is its tiny surviving part.

Stone statues stand near the Pacific Ocean along the entire coast; they are located on special platforms; local residents call these pedestals “ahu”.

Not all the statues have survived to this day, some are completely destroyed, others have been toppled over. Quite a few statues have survived - there are more than a thousand figures. They are not the same size and differ in thickness. The smallest are 3 meters long. Large ones weigh 80 tons and reach 17 meters in height. They all have very large heads with heavy protruding chins, short necks, long ears and no legs at all. Some have stone “caps” on their heads. Everyone's facial features are the same - a somewhat gloomy expression, with low foreheads and tightly compressed lips.

Today we will take a trip to the famous Easter Island, which is famous for its Moai stone sculptures. The island is shrouded in many secrets and mysteries that are unlikely to ever be solved. We will try to consider the most common theories of the origin of stone statues created by the ancient civilization of Rapa Nui

This is one of the most isolated islands in the world, since ancient sailors sailed here in canoes and settled on these shores 1,200 years ago. Over the centuries, a unique community developed in the island's isolation and, for unknown reasons, began carving giant statues from volcanic rock. These statues, known as Moai, are some of the most amazing ancient relics ever found. The people of the island called themselves Rapa Nui, but where they came from and where they disappeared is unknown. Science puts forward many theories about the mystery of Easter Island, but all these theories contradict each other, the truth is as always unknown

Modern archaeologists believe that the first and only people of the island were a separate group of Polynesians who, once arriving here, then had no contact with their homeland. Until the fateful day in 1722, when, on Easter Day, the Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen became the first European to discover the island. What his crew witnessed sparked heated debate regarding the origins of Rapa Nui. Researchers reported a mixed population of the island, with both dark-skinned and light-skinned people. Some even had red hair and tanned faces. This does not quite fit with the Polynesian version of the origins of the local population, despite long-standing evidence supporting migration from another island in the Pacific. Therefore, archaeologists are still discussing the theory of the famous archaeologist and explorer Thor Heyerdahl

In his notes, Heyerdahl talks about the islanders, who were divided into several classes. The fair-skinned islanders wore large discs in their earlobes. Their bodies were heavily tattooed and they worshiped giant statues by performing ceremonies in front of them. How could light-skinned people live among the Polynesians on such a remote island? The researcher believes that Easter Island was inhabited in several stages by two different cultures. One culture was from Polynesia, the other from South America, possibly from Peru, where mummies of people with red hair were also found

Heyerdahl also points out the similarities between Moai statues and similar monuments in Bolivia. According to his theory, thousands of years ago people had already mastered the ocean, and sailed in large canoes over vast distances. Heyerdahl himself traveled from the shores of Peru to Easter Island on a homemade raft in 1947, proving that such a movement is possible

Modern archaeologists strongly disagree with Heyerdahl. They indicate a long history of Polynesian habitation in the South Pacific region. In addition, according to linguistic studies, the most likely origin of the local population is the Marquesas or Pitcairn Islands. Researchers turn to the legends of Easter Island, which speak of origin from the west. In addition, botanical and anthropometric studies confirm that the island was colonized only once - from the west

There is a third theory, a very young one. Around 1536, the Spanish ship San Lesmems disappeared off the coast of Tahiti. Legends speak of Basques surviving and marrying Polynesian women. Interestingly, genetic testing has shown the presence of Basque genes in the blood of Rapa Nui

But there is a third origin story that has as far back as it seems there is scientific evidence behind it. Around 1536 the Spanish ship, San Lesmems was lost near the Island of Tahiti. Legends speak of Basque survivors intermarrying with Polynesians. Either they or their descendants set off from Tahiti to try and return home in the 1600s and were never seen again. Interestingly, genetic testing of pure Rapa Nui blood showed the presence of Basque genes

Perhaps Easter Island was settled by a lost crew of Spanish and Polynesian sailors?


Of course, over time, science will give us the answer to who the Rapa Nui were. They built a highly organized society on a small island, and during the short time of their existence they created a riddle that puzzled the whole world and has not been solved to this day.