{"id":1247,"date":"2020-10-18T13:45:16","date_gmt":"2020-10-18T12:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/?p=1247"},"modified":"2021-03-18T10:54:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T10:54:28","slug":"rapa-nui-the-mystery-of-the-moai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toonsarah-travels.blog\/staging\/rapa-nui-the-mystery-of-the-moai\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapa Nui: the mystery of the moai"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Europeans first came to what the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen named as Easter Island, they were astounded at the sight of the megalithic figures that dotted the landscape. \u2018We could hardly conceive how these islanders, wholly unacquainted with any mechanical power, could raise such stupendous figures\u2019, wrote Captain Cook in 1774.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moai<\/em> of Rapa Nui (the islanders\u2019 name for their home) almost all stand facing not out to sea, as you might imagine, but inland, watching over the village. The figures represent honoured ancestors and were placed here to continue to protect their village and its people after their deaths. By the time of Cook\u2019s visit many of these iconic moai<\/em> had fallen, or been toppled by the islanders. But enough remained to make this powerful impression on the new arrivals from Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Moai
Ahu Huri a Urenga<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By 1868 none were left upright, so the approximately fifty we see standing today have all been re-erected. The Rapa Nui oral tradition recounts that the statues were toppled from their platforms (known as ahu<\/em>) in inter-clan disputes as society here crumbled in the face of great adversity, when famine came to the island as a result of deforestation. Some were toppled by rival clans during the fighting; some perhaps by the people of their own clan in anger that they had failed to protect them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is disputed by some experts who look to earthquakes and volcanoes as a more likely explanation. Our local guides, however, both of them native to Rapa Nui, were consistent in sticking to the clan warfare explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deforestation on Rapa Nui<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is even more controversy and uncertainly about the reason for the deforestation and its devastating effect on the island\u2019s people. Traditionally the inhabitants\u2019 over-use of resources is blamed: chopping down trees to make rollers to move the moai<\/em> and for building purposes. Finally no trees were left standing, and they couldn\u2019t even build boats to escape the island, which became their prison. If this is true, it is hardly surprising that they lost faith in the power of the moai<\/em> to protect them and started to fight among themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But some more recent theories point to the impact of sheep farming introduced by the Chilean government; or to climate change; or to a combination of all these things. Again our local guides echoed the oral tradition and stuck to accounts they had grown up with, that the people had at least contributed to their own downfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moai <\/em>or Ahu?<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is sometimes confusion between the ahu<\/em> and the moai<\/em>. Ahu<\/em> are the island\u2019s burial sites or shrines, located near each village. They are thought to derive from altars in French Polynesia. They are raised platforms made with stones and rubble, with a ramp that is often paved with beach cobbles and a levelled court in front. Many but not all have between one to fifteen statues on them, and these are the moai<\/em>. Those ahu<\/em> that have moai on them are known as \u2018image ahu\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These moai<\/em> are the iconic symbols of the island. They date from around 1400 – 1650 A.D. There are thought to be between 800 and over 1,000 of them in total, many still buried or half-buried on the slopes of the main quarry, the volcano of Rano Raraku.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main Ahu<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ahu Tahai<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This is a large complex located very near to the town of Hanga Roa. It is actually a group of three ahu<\/em>: Ko Te Riku, Tahai, and Vai Ure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Panoramic
The Ahu Tahai complex<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ahu Tahai itself has a single rather weathered moai<\/em> which (unusually) stands on a square base with no room for any others to be added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Single
Ahu Tahai and Ahu Vai Ure<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ahu Vai Ure<\/strong> has five moai<\/em>, only a couple of which are reasonably whole \u2013 two are missing parts of their head and the fifth is headless and barely recognisable. There is also an empty spot where a sixth must once have stood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Row
Ahu Vai Ure<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ahu Ko Te Riku<\/strong> will probably make the strongest impression on you here, as it did on me, as its moai<\/em> is the only one standing on the island to have had its eyes restored. The replica eyes were based on one found at Anakena in 1978. This moai<\/em> also has a pukao<\/em>, the red stone topknot thought by most to represent the distinctive hairstyle of the Rapa Nui men.<\/p>\n\n\n