On April 5th, 1977, new land was discovered by the dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen. He arrived on the island on Easter sunday, thus giving its name “Easter Island”. Now, the Volcanic Island is owned by Chile, and is inhabited by the descendants of the Rapa Nui people, the name given to the civilians living on the island since it was first inhabited. The mystery behind the disappearance of the Rapa Nui is still not completely solved, however many historians believe they destroyed their own civilization through Ecocide, also known as ecological suicide.

 

What most fascinated explorers that visited the island were the large statues sitting around the perimeter of the island. These statues are called Moais and the actual role of them still remains unknown. Many historians believe that the Moai served for religious and natural purposes, such as serving as a god-like figure, or as a guardian of the island, protecting the inhabitants of outside dangers. The Moai that were placed around the perimeter of the island were not placed facing the sea, instead they were placed facing the island, overseeing and protecting “the lives of their creators”. Historians believed the Rapa Nui built the moai so they could have an object that represented their culture and beliefs.
 

The Moais were made of tuff, a volcanic rock found on the island, and were carved on quarries, which were located in the mountain. The Rapa Nui first carved the whole statue attached to the mountain and then, once it was complete, they would disconnect it from the quarry and move it to their desired position. Some Moais were placed on ceremonial platforms called ahu, which did not only provide stability but must have also served for a religious purpose. Others had however, two-thirds of their bodies buried underground to stabilize it. What archeologists still try to discover is the way these statues were actually moved. Some say extraterrestrials came down to Earth and moved them. Others say the Rapa Nui tied ropes around the Moai and, by pulling on each side, made it walk. Some even say that they were moved horizontally, rolling on wooden logs. Most of these strategies seem impossible to us because some of these statues had to travel distances up to 9 miles and these methods would be ineffective in such long distances. Some Moais had red hats called Pukao, which weighed an additional two tons. This made the transportation of the statue even more difficult and contributed to the mystery that is still unsolved to this day.

 

The building of these statues soon began to exhaust the island’s resources. The Rapa Nui were cutting down all of their trees in order to use the logs to roll the Moais and the fibers of the branches to make ropes used to make the Moai stand up. The destruction of the forest brought them to a decline. The lack of palm trees, for example, which were used as a protection against the sun and as a source of food, led to a time period of famine and starvation. On top of that, the land became less fertile and it became much more difficult to cultivate yams.

 

Some explorers, such as James Cook, claim that the lack of food led to cannibalism on the island. This is proven through the cava cava, wooden figures which presented starvation on the island. They also described that the island was in a state of destruction, with all the Moais removed from their platforms and broken on the floor. This creates a lot of controversy between historians because some claim that the Moais were on the floor as a way of covering the top of tombs for religious purposes.

 

A lot of the history of Easter Island still remains a mystery and it is our job, as an archeological company, to investigate and corroborate these theories. With our expedition to the Chilean island we will not only answer the eternal question of how the Moai were transported, but we will also unravel the traditions and culture of the Rapa Nui.