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Earlier researchers assumed that the process required human energy, ropes, and possibly wooden sledges (sleds) or rollers, as well as leveled tracks across the island (the "Easter Island roads"). Another theory suggests that the moai were placed on top of logs and were rolled to their destinations. [31]
Pukao were not made until the 15th–16th centuries and are later additions to the moai. [2] The reason that pukao were made is not known, though various theories exist. One is that the placing of a pukao on top of the moai was a recognition of the power of the individual represented.
The Moais were erected to protect and bring prosperity to their clan and village. [1] A particular feature of the seven identical moai statues is that they exactly face sunset during the Spring Equinox and have their backs to the sunrise during the Autumn Equinox. Such an astronomically precise feature is seen only at this location on the ...
The first moai, Hoa Hakananai’a, is carved from basalt and has been dated to 1000-1200 while the second, Moai Hava, was made from volcanic tuff between 1100 and 1600.
On top of many ahu would have been: Moai on squarish "pedestals" looking inland, the ramp with the poro before them. Pukao or Hau Hiti Rau on the moai heads (platforms built after 1300). When a ceremony took place, "eyes" were placed on the statues. The whites of the eyes were made of coral, the iris was made of obsidian or red scoria.
Ahu Tongariki. The second moai from the right has a pukao on its head. All fifteen standing moai at Ahu Tongariki. Ahu Tongariki (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈa.u toŋɡaˈɾiki]) is the largest ahu on Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Its moais were toppled during the island's civil wars, and in the twentieth century the ahu was swept inland by a tsunami.
The moai represented a clan's "most revered forebears who were believed to bestow ‘mana’ on living leaders". [12] The park also has a few petroglyphs and paintings. [12] Rano Kau crater. The Birdman cult which replaced the moai cult worship was concentrated in Orongo at a ceremonial site called Mata Ngarau. [7]
An incomplete moai in quarry. The incomplete statues in the quarry are remarkable for their number, for the inaccessibility of some that were high on the outside crater wall and for the size of the largest; at 21.6 m (71 feet) in height, almost twice that of any moai ever completed and weighing an estimated 270 tonnes, many times the weight of any transported.