Easter Island is Perhaps amongst the most out of the way islands in the world but over 1000 years ago a small canoe piloted by people of a distant land arrived there. In the next few hundred years an amazing civilization grew all alone there. For their own still unknown purposes they decided to carve statues from volcanic rocks. These moai as they are known have become wonders in the modern world. The Rapa Nui, as they called themselves, suddenly disappeared. What was the identity of these people and what happened to them? Questions remain even though much research has been done which has settled, or at least ruled out, some of the weirder theories.Click over here for extra info about tribal arm tattoos.
Science supports one of the strangest theories as to the origins of the Easter Island people. A Spanish ship called the San Lesmems disappeared without a trace near Tahiti in the mid 1500′s. Stories describe Basque survivors marrying and breeding with native Polynesians. These survivors or their descendants left Tahiti in the hopes of returning to Spain in the early 17th century they never made it. When tested Rapa Nui people showed the presence of Basque genes.
People most recognize Easter Island for the moai, huge stone statues that once stood on platforms, also of stone, called agu. These 250 ahu form a line all around the island, each one placed about mile from the next. 600 incomplete moai statues can be found near the rocks where they were carved, or laying on roads apparently having been on their way to the coast to be placed on an ahu.
Most moai are carved from volcanic stone that comes from one volcano, the Rano Raraku. The statues stand around 14 feet 6 inches high and weigh an average of 14 tons. Some of the larger ones top 33 feet high and weigh 80 tons, but one was found that was 65 feet high, still not fully carved from the rock, and would have weighed nearly 300 tons when completely finished. They were dragged to shore by 50-150 men, depending on the size of the statue, with logs used as rollers.
You should get complimentary info about tribal arm tattoos here.
Why the statues were created on Easter Island is still a mystery. It could be that the Easter Island moai were similar to statues found around Polynesia, but with their construction and purpose changed by local customs.
Related posts:
No tags for this post.
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment