Moai or moʻai (/ ˈmoʊ.aɪ / ⓘ MOH-eye; Spanish: moái; Rapa Nui: moʻai, lit. 'statue') are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. [ 1 ][ 2 ] Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set...

Dec 17, 2024 · Easter Island, Chilean dependency in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the easternmost outpost of the Polynesian island world. It is famous for its giant stone statues. The island stands in isolation 1,200 miles (1,900 km) east of Pitcairn Island and 2,200 miles (3,540 km) west of Chile.

May 4, 2017 · The Moai are some of the world’s most fascinating and widely-recognised monolithic statues. Located on the remote Chilean territory of Easter Island, they tell a mysterious story of the island’s early people and their obsession with rock carvings. Much research has been carried out on these famous statues and many of the damaged and fallen ...

The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, called moai, which were created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. Experts differ on when the island's Polynesian inhabitants first reached the island.

Mar 6, 2024 · Most of the Moai are located on a volcanic island called Rapa Nui. A dependency of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, this island has about 5,000 inhabitants today. It is globally known as Easter Island, named so by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen when he ‘discovered’ it on Easter Sunday in 1722.

Jan 4, 2025 · Easter Island’s iconic Moai statues are scattered across the island, carved centuries ago by the Rapa Nui people. Each statue tells a unique story, standing vigil over the island’s mysterious past.

Easter Island is famous for its stone statues of human figures, known as moai (meaning “statue”). The island is known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui. The moai were probably carved to commemorate important ancestors and were made from around 1000 C.E. until the second half of the seventeenth century.

Nov 21, 2024 · With its mysterious, stoic moai watching over the island and craterous, seemingly barren landscapes that hint at a turbid, fascinating history, Easter Island** (aka Isla de Pascua as it’s known in Spanish or Rapa Nui as is its local name) captivates most travelers.

6 days ago · The Moai statues of Easter Island are enduring symbols of the ingenuity and resilience of the Rapa Nui people. While much about their construction and purpose remains shrouded in mystery, recent archaeological findings have shed new light on these remarkable achievements. The decline of the Rapa Nui civilization is a complex interplay of ...

Easter Island’s moai, created around 1100 to 1600 CE, have mystified the world for centuries. Forming the head and torso of a human figure, each stone monument is unique.