After the deforestation of Rapa Nui, and the destruction of the moai, probably as a result in part at least of war between the tribes, the people needed to believe in something; if their ancestors could no longer protect them, who would? The answer was, one of their own.
Because the moai of Rapa Nui represent real people, each has a different expression, something that becomes obvious the more you study them. But they were all ‘born’ of the same place, carved from the rock of the volcano, Rano Raraku. Its compressed volcanic ash, tuft, is soft and easy to carve – essential, as the natives had no metal to carve with, only stone tools.
‘We could hardly conceive how these islanders, wholly unacquainted with any mechanical power, could raise such stupendous figures’