Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited places on earth. Just 64 square miles, it is located in the South Pacific two thousand miles west of Chile. The island is most famously known for the 887 stone statues that dot the landscape.
The history of the creation and erection of the statues, known as moai, dates back more than 900 years. Islanders carved the moai from basalt. It is believed that the statues, with their stylized features and enormous heads, honored deceased chiefs and ancestors.
Unfortunately, as there was no written history on the island, it is difficult to be certain of their meaning. By the year 1500, islanders seemed to be in an escalating race to build more and even taller moai. The tallest statue found on the island tops out at more than 32 feet and weighs as much as 90 tons.
Questions remain unanswered about the ways in which the original Polynesians moved the moai from their quarry to locations all around the island. It was quite a remarkable feat of engineering.
See the Tom Pugh papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to discover more.