Easter Island idols- giant stone heads decorating the entire island.

The small Easter Island in the South Pacific Ocean, belonging to Chile, is one of the most mysterious corners of our planet. 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.

Moai - the statues of Easter Island

There are a total of 997 statues on Easter Island. Most of them are placed quite chaotically, but some are lined up in rows. The appearance of stone idols is peculiar, and Easter Island statues cannot be confused with anything else.
For example, there is nothing like it.

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 these dimensions, the weight statues on Easter Island on average does not exceed 5 tons. Such low weight is due to the source material.

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 idols and the first Europeans

In general, there are many secrets in the history of Easter Island. Its discoverer, Captain Juan Fernandez, fearing competitors, decided to keep his discovery, made in 1578, a secret, and some time later he accidentally died under mysterious circumstances. Although whether what the Spaniard found was Easter Island is still unclear.

144 years later, in 1722, the Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen stumbled upon Easter Island, and this event happened on the day of Christian Easter. So, quite by accident, the island of Te Pito o te Henua, which translated from the local dialect means the Center of the World, turned into Easter Island.

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 the moai were for the islanders was never determined, but most likely the stone sculptures served as idols. Researchers also suggest that the stone sculptures could be statues of deceased ancestors.

It is interesting that Admiral Roggeveen and his squadron not only sailed in this area, he tried in vain to find the elusive land of Davis, an English pirate, which, according to his descriptions, was discovered 35 years before the Dutch expedition. True, no one except Davis and his team saw the newly discovered archipelago again.

In subsequent years, interest in the island declined. In 1774, James Cook arrived on the island, and discovered that over the years, some Easter Island idols were overturned. 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.

How did the statues appear on Easter Island?

Distant masters carved “” on the slopes of the Rano Roraku volcano, located in the eastern part of the island, from soft volcanic tuff. Then the finished statues were lowered down the slope and placed along the perimeter of the island, over a distance of more than 10 km.

The height of most idols ranges from five to seven meters, while later sculptures reached 10 and 12 meters. The tuff, or, as it is also called, pumice, from which they are made, has a sponge-like structure and easily crumbles even with a slight impact on it. so the average weight of a “moai” does not exceed 5 tons.

Stone ahu - platform-pedestals: reached 150 m in length and 3 m in height, and consisted of pieces weighing up to 10 tons.

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.

At one time, Admiral Roggeveen, recalling his trip to the island, claimed that the aborigines lit fires in front of the “moai” idols and squatted next to them, bowing their heads. After that, they folded their hands and swung them up and down. Of course, this observation is not able to explain who the idols really were for the islanders.

Roggeveen and his companions could not understand how, without using thick wooden rollers and strong ropes, it was possible to move and install such blocks. The islanders had no wheels, no draft animals, and no other source of energy other than their own muscles.

Ancient legends say that the statues walked on their own. There is no point in asking how this actually happened, because there is no documentary evidence left anyway.

There are many hypotheses about the movement of the “moai”, some are even confirmed by experiments, but all this proves only one thing - it was possible in principle. And the statues were moved by the inhabitants of the island and no one else. So why did they do this? This is where the differences begin.

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.

Everything that exists on the island today was restored in the 20th century.

The last restoration of fifteen “moai” located between the Rano Roraku volcano and the Poike Peninsula occurred relatively recently - from 1992 to 1995. Moreover, the Japanese were involved in the restoration work.

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...

In the second half of the 19th century, the cult of the bird man also died. This strange, unique ritual for all of Polynesia was dedicated to Makemaka, the supreme deity of the islanders. The chosen one became his earthly incarnation. Moreover, interestingly, elections were held regularly, once a year.

At the same time, servants or warriors took the most active part in them. It depended on them whether their owner, the head of the family clan, would become Tangata-manu, or a bird-man. It is to this ritual that the main cult center, the rock village of Orongo on the largest volcano Rano Kao in the western tip of the island, owes its origin. Although, perhaps, Orongo existed long before the emergence of the cult of Tangata-manu.

Legends say that the heir to the legendary Hotu Matua, the first leader to arrive on the island, was born here. In turn, his descendants, hundreds of years later, themselves gave the signal for the start of the annual competition.

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.

In the spring, messengers of the god Makemake - black sea swallows - flew to the small islands of Motu-Kao-Kao, Motu-Iti and Motu-Nui, located not far from the coast. The warrior who was the first to find the first egg of these birds and swim it to his master received seven beautiful women as a reward. Well, the owner became a leader, or rather, a bird-man, receiving universal respect, honor and privileges.

The last Tangata Manu ceremony took place in the 60s of the 19th century. After the disastrous pirate raid of the Peruvians in 1862, when the pirates took the entire male population of the island into slavery, there was no one left to choose the bird-man.

Why did the Easter Island natives carve moai statues in a quarry? Why did they stop this activity? The society that created the statues must have been significantly different from the 2,000 people Roggeveen saw. It had to be well organized. What happened to him?

For more than two and a half centuries, the mystery of Easter Island remained unsolved. Most theories about the history and development of Easter Island are based on oral traditions.

This happens because no one still can understand what is written in written sources - the famous tablets “ko hau motu mo rongorongo”, which roughly means a manuscript for recitation.

Most of them were destroyed by Christian missionaries, but those that survived could probably shed light on the history of this mysterious island. And although the scientific world has more than once been excited by reports that ancient writings have finally been deciphered, upon careful verification, all this turned out to be a not very accurate interpretation of oral facts and legends

Easter Island idols: history

Several years ago, paleontologist David Steadman and several other researchers carried out the first systematic study of Easter Island in order to find out what its flora and fauna were once like. The result is evidence for a new, surprising and instructive interpretation of the history of its settlers.

Easter Island was settled around 400 AD. e. The period of manufacture of the statues dates back to 1200-1500. The number of inhabitants by that time ranged from 7,000 to 20,000 people. To lift and move the statue, several hundred people were enough, who used ropes and rollers from trees, which were available in sufficient quantities at that time.

The paradise that opened to the first settlers became almost lifeless 1600 years later. Fertile soils, an abundance of food, plenty of building materials, sufficient living space, and all opportunities for a comfortable existence were destroyed. At the time of Heyerdahl's visit to the island, there was only a toromiro tree on the island; now he is no longer there.

It all started with the fact that several centuries after arriving on the island, people began, like their Polynesian ancestors, to install stone idols on platforms. Over time, the statues became larger; their heads began to be decorated with red 10-ton crowns.

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.

Easter Island is an amazing place where thousands of tourists from all over the world strive to get to. We have already discussed a lot about Easter Island. They analyzed and searched, and I even showed it to you.

But in all these discussions, I somehow paid little attention to where and how these huge heads and statues appeared. This place is located on the lower slopes of Terevak - the largest and youngest of the three extinct volcanoes that actually form Rapa Nui (better known as Easter Island).

Let's take a closer look at this...

Photo 2.

Among the huge number of attractions, there is a special place on this island - the Rano Raraku volcanic crater made of compressed volcanic ash or tuff. This crater is fraught with interesting mysteries.

Rano Raraku is an extinct volcano about 150 meters high, located in the eastern part of the island in the middle of a grassy plain, 20 kilometers from the city of Hanga Roa and 1 kilometer from the coast. The southeastern slope of the volcano partially collapsed and exposed the rock - yellow-brown tuff with numerous inclusions. It is to this rock that the volcano owes its popularity - it became the birthplace of the famous Moai stone idols.

In an oval crater measuring 350 by 280 meters lies a freshwater lake, the banks of which are densely overgrown with totora reeds. Until recently, this lake served the local population as a source of fresh water.

The volcano was formed during the Holocene period. It is a secondary volcano of Maunga Terewaka, the island's largest elevation. When its last eruption occurred is unknown.

Rano Raraku is shaped like a pyroclastic cone. The height of its peak is five hundred eleven meters. The slopes of the volcano are covered with a soft grass carpet, reminiscent of alpine meadows; the southeastern slope is partially collapsed.

For almost five centuries, Rano Raraku was used for quarrying. It was here that the stone for most of Easter Island's famous monolithic sculptures, known as moai, was quarried. Today you can see the remains of as many as 387 moai of varying degrees of completion literally encircling the crater. Rano Raraku is today part of the Rapa Nui National Park World Heritage Site.

Photo 3.

Almost all of the statues on Easter Island (95%) were carved from the crater's quarries and then somehow transported many kilometers to various locations around the island. Nobody knows how they did it. Moai are visible on the slope, which for some reason were either not completed or were not moved to the right place

Photo 4.

There are many interesting things in this place. For example, such unique plants as the “totora” reed, which overgrown the shores of the lake in the crater, are considered by some people to be the first evidence of contact with the South American continent. Totora have been growing in this area for at least 30,000 years, long before people settled on Rapa Nui. The southern slope of Rano Raraku on Easter Island is literally littered with large numbers of moai.

Photo 5.

Some of them are half buried in the ground, while others are unfinished. But the most fascinating sight at Rano Raraku is the moai in the quarry. Some of them are unfinished, and others cannot be reached today because they are located very high on the outside of the crater. Here you can see one of the largest examples of moai, which is 21.6 meters high. It is almost twice the size of its “brothers” for which the coast of Easter Island has become famous.

Photo 6.

The moai's weight is estimated at 270 tons and is many times the weight of any moai found elsewhere on the island. Scientists believe that some of the unfinished moai were abandoned after their creators eventually encountered very hard rock while quarrying. And other sculptures allegedly were not even going to be separated from the rock in which they were carved. In addition, some of the moai outside the quarry are partially buried up to their shoulders in the ground. Interestingly, these particular moai do not have hollowed out eyes.

Photo 7.

In addition, they do not have a "pukao" on top, a hat-shaped structure carved from a light red volcanic rock that was quarried elsewhere, Puna Pau. Nevertheless, it was these moai that became the real “calling card” of the island.

Photo 8.

In the crater of the Rano Raraku volcano there is a large freshwater lake with clear water. In this lake, once a year, the inhabitants of the island nowadays hold a swimming competition. One of the slopes is studded with idols. The average size of the statues is slightly smaller than those on the outside of the crater and they are much more crudely made. It is still unknown why it was necessary to make statues inside the crater, because removing a multi-ton monolithic sculpture from there without damage, even in our time with the use of technology, is a very difficult task. There is a hypothesis - this is nothing more than a training site for the ancient vocational school No. 1 of the island of Rapa Nui for the training of qualified stonemasons and the statues were not intended for export.

Photo 9.

A herd of wild horses lives in the crater. There are a huge number of horses, wild and domestic, on the island; they are not afraid of people and can be found in the most unexpected places. If the ancient Rapanui had horses, they would have planed this entire mountain to the ground.

Photo 11.

Moai are stone statues made from compressed volcanic ash on Easter Island. All moai are monolithic, meaning they are carved from a single piece of stone rather than glued or fastened together. The weight sometimes reaches more than 20 tons, and the height is more than 6 meters. An unfinished sculpture was found, about 20 meters tall and weighing 270 tons. There are a total of 997 moai on Easter Island. All moai, contrary to popular belief, “look” deep into the island, and not towards the ocean.

A little less than a fifth of the moai were moved to ceremony areas (ahu) and installed with a red stone cylinder on the head (pukau). About 95% were carved from compressed volcanic ash from Rano Raraku, where 394 moai now remain standing. Work in the quarry at the foot of the Rano Raraku volcano was unexpectedly interrupted, and many unfinished moai remained there. Almost all of the completed moai were moved from Rano Raraku to ceremonial platforms.

Recently, it has been proven that the deep eye holes were once filled with corals, some of which have now been reconstructed.

In the mid-19th century, all the moai outside Rano Raraku and many in the quarry were toppled over. Now about 50 moai have been restored to ceremonial sites.

Photo 13.

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 the dominant Hotu Matu'a clan, who left home in search of a new one and found Easter Island. When he died, the island was divided among 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 leaders, as well as symbols of clans.

Photo 14.

The mystery of the creation, movement and installation of the statues was revealed in 1956 by the famous Norwegian traveler Thor Heirdal. The creators of the moai turned out to be an endangered indigenous tribe of the "long-ears", which for centuries kept the secret of creating the statues a secret from the main population of the island - the tribe of "short-ears". As a result of this secrecy, the Short Ears surrounded the statues with mystical superstitions, which led Europeans astray for a long time.

At the request of Thor Heirdal, a group of the last “long-eared” living on the island reproduced all the stages of making statues in the quarry (hewing them out with stone hammers), moved the finished 12-ton statue to the installation site (in a prone position, dragged, using a large crowd of assistants) and installed on its feet using an ingenious device of stones placed under the base and three logs used as levers. When asked why they didn’t tell European researchers about this earlier, their leader replied that “nobody asked ME about this before.” The natives who participated in the experiment reported that for several generations no one had made or installed statues, but from early childhood their elders taught them, telling them orally how to do it and forcing them to repeat what was told until they were convinced that the children remembered everything exactly.

Photo 16.

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.

The mystery remained why the “short-eared” people say in their legends that the statues “arrived” at their installation sites in a vertical position. Czech researcher Pavel Pavel hypothesized that the moai “walked” by turning over and, in 1986, together with Thor Heirdal, conducted an additional experiment in which a group of 17 people with ropes quickly moved a 20-ton statue in a vertical position.

Photo 17.

Photo 18.

Photo 19.

Photo 21.

Photo 22.

Photo 23.

Photo 15.

Photo 24.

Photo 25.

Photo 26.

Photo 27.

Photo 28.

Photo 29.

Of all the archaeological wonders at Rano Raraku, there is one that quite a few tourists know about, and which is perhaps the most unusual of all.

This is a bearded Tukuturi, which is a one-of-a-kind moai - he kneels. The Tucuturi position was subsequently used by women and men who participated in the choir during festivals known as "Rio". In particular, singers kneel, tilt their torso slightly back and raise their heads. Also, the performers, as a rule, wear beards (it’s easy to notice that Tukuturi is bearded).

Photo 30.

Tucuturi is made from red volcanic scoria, which can only be found, as mentioned earlier, in Puna Pau. However, it sits on Rano Raraku, which is a tuff quarry. Some surviving records suggest that this figure may be associated with the cult of "tangata manu" - a special competition ritual in which settlers competed annually.

Indirect hints suggest that this was the last moai, which was made after they stopped making classic moai statues.

Photo 20.

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

Most 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 pumice deposits 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

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.

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 explained this by the influence of the culture of the Peruvian Indians or even by 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.

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

The natives who greeted the Dutch sailors on Easter Sunday 1722 seemed to have nothing in common with the giant statues of their island. Detailed geological analysis and new archaeological finds have made it possible solve the mystery these sculptures and learn about the tragic fate of the stonemasons.

The island fell into disrepair, his stone sentries fell, and many of them drowned in the ocean. Only the pitiful remnants of the mysterious army managed to rise with outside help.

Briefly about Easter Island

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui in local parlance, is a tiny (165.5 sq. km) piece of land lost in the Pacific Ocean halfway between Tahiti and Chile. It is the most isolated inhabited (about 2000 people) place in the world - the nearest Town (about 50 people) is 1900 km away, on Pitcairn Island, where the rebels found refuge in 1790 Bounty team.

The coastline of Rapa Nui is decorated hundreds of scowling native idols they call them "moai". Each is hewn from a single piece of volcanic rock; the height of some is almost 10 m. All the statues are made according to the same model: a long nose, drawn-out earlobes, a gloomily compressed mouth and a protruding chin over a stocky torso with arms pressed to the sides and palms resting on the stomach.

Many "moai" installed with astronomical precision. For example, in one group, all seven statues look at the point (photo on the left) where the sun sets on the evening of the equinox. More than a hundred idols lie in the quarry, not completely hewn or almost finished and, apparently, waiting to be sent to their destination.

For more than 250 years, historians and archaeologists could not understand how and why, with a shortage of local resources, primitive islanders, completely cut off from the rest of the world, managed to process giant monoliths, drag them for kilometers over rough terrain and place them vertically. A variety of more or less scientific theories, and many experts believed that Rapa Nui was at one time inhabited by a highly developed people, possibly a carrier of the American people, who died as a result of some catastrophe.

Uncover the secret of the island allowed detailed analysis of its soil samples. The truth about what happened here can serve as a sobering lesson for people around the world.

Born sailors. Rapanui people once hunted dolphins from canoes dug out of palm trunks. However, the Dutch who discovered the island saw boats made of many planks fastened together - there were no large trees left.

History of the discovery of the island

On April 5, Easter Day 1722, three Dutch ships under the command of Captain Jacob Roggeveen stumbled upon an island in the Pacific Ocean that was not shown on any map. When they dropped anchor off its eastern shore, a few natives sailed up to them in their boats. Roggeveen was disappointed, The islanders' boats, he wrote: “poor and fragile... with a light frame covered with many small planks”. The boats were leaking so much that the rowers had to bail out water every now and then. The landscape of the island also did not warm the captain’s soul: “Its desolate appearance suggests extreme poverty and barrenness.”.

Conflict of civilizations. Easter Island idols now adorn museums in Paris and London, but obtaining these exhibits was not easy. The islanders knew each “moai” by name and did not want to part with any of them. When the French removed one of these statues in 1875, a crowd of natives had to be held back with rifle shots.

Despite the friendly behavior of the brightly colored natives, the Dutch came ashore, prepared for the worst, and lined up in a combat square under the amazed gaze of the owners, who had never seen other people, not to mention firearms.

The visit soon turned dark tragedy. One of the sailors fired. Then he claimed that he allegedly saw the islanders lifting stones and making threatening gestures. The “guests,” on Roggeveen’s orders, opened fire, killing 10-12 hosts on the spot and wounding as many more. The islanders fled in horror, but then returned to the shore with fruits, vegetables and poultry - to appease the ferocious newcomers. Roggeveen noted in his diary an almost bare landscape with rare bushes no higher than 3 m. On the island, which he named in honor of Easter, interest was aroused only unusual statues (heads), standing along the shore on massive stone platforms (“ahu”).

At first these idols shocked us. We could not understand how the islanders, who did not have strong ropes and a lot of construction wood for making mechanisms, were nevertheless able to erect statues (idols) at least 9 m high, and quite voluminous ones at that.

Scientific approach. French traveler Jean Francois La Perouse landed on Easter Island in 1786, accompanied by a chronicler, three naturalists, an astronomer and a physicist. As a result of 10 hours of research, he suggested that in the past the area was wooded.

Who were the Rapanui people?

People settled Easter Island only around the year 400. It is generally accepted that they sailed on huge boats from Eastern Polynesia. Their language is close to the dialects of the inhabitants of the Hawaiian and Marquesas Islands. Ancient fishing hooks and stone adzes of the Rapanui people found during excavations are similar to the tools used by the Marquesanes.

At first, European sailors encountered naked islanders, but by the 19th century they were weaving their own clothes. However, family heirlooms were more valued than ancient crafts. Men sometimes wore headdresses made from the feathers of birds long extinct on the island. Women wove straw hats. Both of them pierced their ears and wore bone and wooden jewelry in them. As a result, the earlobes were pulled back and hung almost to the shoulders.

Lost Generations - Answers Found

In March 1774, an English captain James Cook discovered about 700 on Easter Island emaciated from the malnutrition of the natives. He suggested that the local economy had been badly damaged by the recent volcanic eruption: this was evidenced by the many stone idols that collapsed from their platforms. Cook was convinced: they were hewn out and placed along the coast by the distant ancestors of the current Rapanui people.

“This work, which took an enormous amount of time, clearly demonstrates the ingenuity and tenacity of those who lived here during the era of the statues’ creation. Today’s islanders almost certainly have no time for this, because they do not even repair the foundations of those that are about to collapse.”

Scientists only recently found the answers to some moai riddles. Analysis of pollen from sediments accumulated in the island's swamps shows that it was once covered with dense forests, thickets of ferns and shrubs. All this was teeming with a variety of game.

Exploring the stratigraphic (and chronological) distribution of finds, scientists discovered in the lower, most ancient layers the pollen of an endemic tree close to the wine palm, up to 26 m high and up to 1.8 m in diameter. Its long, straight, unbranched trunks could serve as excellent rollers for transportation of blocks weighing tens of tons. Pollen of the plant “hauhau” (triumphetta semi-three-lobed) was also found, from the bast of which in Polynesia (and not only) make ropes.

The fact that the ancient Rapanui people had enough food follows from DNA analysis of food remains on excavated dishes. The islanders grew bananas, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, taro, and yams.

The same botanical data demonstrates slow but sure destruction of this idyll. Judging by the contents of swamp sediments, by 800 the forest area was declining. Tree pollen and fern spores are displaced from later layers by charcoal - evidence of forest fires. At the same time, woodcutters worked more and more actively.

Wood shortages began to seriously affect the islanders' way of life, especially their menus. A study of fossilized garbage heaps shows that at one time the Rapa Nui people regularly ate dolphin meat. Obviously, they caught these animals swimming in the open sea from large boats hollowed out from thick palm trunks.

When there was no ship timber left, the Rapanui people lost their “ocean fleet,” and with it their dolphin meat and ocean fish. In 1786, the chronicler of the French expedition La Perouse wrote that in the sea the islanders only caught shellfish and crabs that lived in shallow waters.

The end of the moai

Stone statues began to appear around the 10th century. They probably personify Polynesian gods or deified local leaders. According to Rapa Nui legends, the supernatural power of “mana” raised the hewn idols, led them to a designated place and allowed them to wander at night, protecting the peace of the makers. Perhaps the clans competed with each other, trying to carve the “moai” larger and more beautiful, and also to place it on a more massive platform than its competitors.

After 1500, practically no statues were made. Apparently, there were no trees left on the devastated island necessary to transport and raise them. Since about the same time, palm pollen has not been found in swamp sediments, and dolphin bones are no longer thrown into garbage dumps. The local fauna is also changing. Disappear all native land birds and half sea birds.

The food supply is getting worse, and the population, which once numbered about 7,000 people, is declining. Since 1805, the island has suffered from raids by South American slave traders: they take away some of the natives, many of the remaining ones suffer from smallpox contracted from strangers. Only a few hundred Rapa Nui survive.

Residents of Easter Island erected "moai", hoping for the protection of the spirits embodied in the stone. Ironically, it was this monumental program that brought their land to an environmental disaster. And the idols rise as eerie monuments to thoughtless management and human recklessness.