The people of the island, it appears, had enough food not only to build and move statues, but also to develop a written script, today known as Rongorongo, which researchers are still trying to decipher. In their book, Hunt and Lipo provide more evidence for the idea that the statues were moved vertically. The statues on their platforms can be found ringing almost the entire coast of the island. Remarkably, despite their seaside location, every single one of the moai appears to face inland and not out to sea, suggesting that they were meant to honour people or deities located within Rapa Nui itself.
Construction of the moai statues appears to have stopped around the time of European contact in , when Dutch explorers landed on Easter Day. Over the next century the moai would fall over, either intentionally pushed over or from simple neglect. Why construction was abandoned is another mystery. Early explorers recorded that hats were particularly popular among the people of the island. Regardless of what the moai were intended for, and why construction of them stopped, today the popularity of the statues is higher than ever.
This reciprocal visit took place in June British Museum staff were taken to see various cultural sites to better understand aspects of Rapanui culture, the significance of the statue, and the community's aspirations. Since then, there have been discussions about a Memorandum of Understanding between the Museum and the Rapanui community regarding possible collaborative projects.
The Museum recognises the significance of Hoa Hakananai'a and Moai Hava for the Rapanui community today, and acknowledges the impact of their removal from the island in The Museum is developing a long-term relationship with the community of Rapa Nui, to bring staff time and resources to collaborative research and reinterpretation of the Rapanui collections for the benefit of the community and the wider world.
Through the Memorandum of Understanding, we plan to develop mutually beneficial projects with artists, scholars and other community members in Rapa Nui.
Hoa Hakananai'a represents one of the world's great sculptural traditions, and is a witness to the global significance of Rapanui culture.
Its presence increases public understanding of the history of Rapa Nui, its people's artistic achievements past, present and future, and the challenges faced by the community today. The strength of the British Museum's collection is its breadth and depth which allows millions of visitors an understanding of the cultures of the world and how they interconnect — whether through trade, migration, conquest, peaceful exchange or other interactions — both in the past and today.
There are around moai on Rapa Nui. Skip to main content Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience. Read more about our cookie policy Accept and close the cookie policy. Show image caption Close image caption Ancestor figure 'moai', Hoa Hakananai'a, made of basalt. Easter Island, — Hoa Hakananai'a on Collection online. Share the page Share on Facebook Share on Twitter. What are they? Where are they from?
How did the objects come to the British Museum? This tells us that the moais were transported upright. Since the moais are standing in the quarry Rano Raraku, and they are standing when having reached their ahu, upright transportation saved the Rapa Nui people the huge amount of labor of lowering and raising the statues.
The most widely accepted theory is that the statues were standing on some kind of construction that would keep the statue standing, which would roll on logs. With this technique, brute force could be applied and rapid, safe moai statue transportation would be possible.
As statues got bigger, huge amounts of lumber would be needed. This would eventually cause deforestation of all thick and straight trees, which then made transportation impossible. American archaeologist Charles Love experimented with the technique of transporting a statue on rollers.
He moved a 9 ton moai replica 40 meters in only 2 minutes, using not more than 25 people. No other moai transportation experiment has been able to match this one in speed. According to oral tradition, the moai statues walked to their destination. A literal interpretation of this legend would be that the statues were rocked from side to side, just like you would a refridgerator, to actually make them walk.
For this, no wood would be required - only ropes. Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl together with Pavel Pavel were the first ones to experiment with this transportation theory and did so with a 9 ton ancient statue in First they only dragged a statue on the ground, one side at a time.
This took lots of time and energy without much result. Later they attached ropes also to the head to be able to make it tilt while turning, and the statue moved with much greater ease. A 5 ton replica was moved by a group of 30 people. This experiment received great attention world-wide through a National Geographic report.
That aliens made the moai statues is a quite common belief. Though, according to oral legends the Rapa Nui people made the statues. Also, the further away statues are from the statue quarry Rano Raraku and the higher the elevation of their final destination, the smaller the statues are, because people had to drag them there.
The moai hats actually represent topknots - hair, tied up like a ball on top of the head, called pukao in Rapa Nui. The mana supernatural powers was according to ancient beliefs preserved in the hair, which is why chieftains never cut their hair. Below are three different accounts that tell how the moai hats were put in place on top of the statues. The three people who originally told these stories Tori, Huhu Kahu and Veriamo were all born before , before the ancient Rapa Nui culture reached its end, which makes these accounts a valuable and reliable resource.
Most elders have a collection of these in their homes and big quantities are scattered at museums all over the world.
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