Easter Island 2-20-2003 Moai of Easter Island

By Bob Van Leer
(Easter Island, Chile, Feb. 20, 2003) - Today we toured Easter Island, a highlight of our tour across the Pacific, and by some accounting the most remote place on earth.
  The most outstanding feature of the island by far is the collection of giant stone moai (pronounced moe-eye) erected on the island. Our ship anchored offshore as there is no harbor for anything larger than small fishing vessels. A substantial swell was running, making for difficult loading of passengers from the ship to launches to take passengers to shore.
  In the boat Betty and I went to shore in, one woman fell when boarding and took a crew member down with her, but they did not go overboard. We took a tour of the island in a mini-van. It is not a large island, 15-16 miles wide and a total of 45 square miles. It is volcanic in origin with four dormant volcano craters on the island.

  The island was settled by Polynesians around 400 A.D. and reached its zenith in about 1700 and population peaked at 10,000-20,000 people. Depletion of resources and intermittent clan warfare reduced the population by as much as 90% by the time of European arrival. South Americans took a number of people from the island for slaves but later, under pressure, returned many of them who brought European diseases with them and continued the population reduction.
  By 1900 there may have been as few as 100 residents. The population today is around 3000. The island was discovered by a Dutch admiral on Easter Sunday, 1722, hence the name. The native name is Rapa Nui. Chile annexed the island in 1888 and has retained it ever since. The island is 2370 miles west of Chile and the nearest speck of land is Pitcairn Island, 1190 miles to the west of Easter Island. And then it is another 2500 miles west to the Marquesas. We were told that Easter Island is further from the nearest land than any other place on earth.
  The few tourists that come here are interested in the moai statues, brooding heads and trunks up to 30-40 feet tall and weighing up to 80 tons. Six or eight cruise ships may call here each summer and there is air service, a stopover on a flight from Chile to Tahiti.
  The moai were carved from the slopes of the Rana Raraku volcano and transported down the mountain and overland to be erected on stone platforms called ahu. A few to over a dozen moai were erected on a single platform. Their backs were always to the sea. Using logs to transport the moai is given as a major reason for the deforestation of the island. Some had red topknots carved from a different quarry on the island.
  The exact purpose of the moai is a mystery. Theories range from statues of gods to representations of ancestors. One theory is they were symbols of power and authority. Whatever the purpose, the islanders put huge amounts of effort into their carving and erection. There are approximately 1000 on the island with more probably still buried. The average size is 14 feet high and weighing 14 tons. Most were carved and erected beween A.D. 1000 and 1500.
  At the quarry we could see a number that were never completed included one 65 feet long that would have weighed about 270 tons. A guide said carving out the moai took six months to a year. He said 95% came from this one quarry. All the moai were toppled at least once, some by tribal warfare and others by earthquakes.
  Along island roads are other moai that never reached their platforms. When a moi broke it was abandoned. The natives left a strange-appearing type of "writing" which has not yet been decyphered. There seems to be a lot more unknown about this island than is known. Some tourist attractions live up to their expectations and some don't. Easter Island is one that more than lives up to expectations.