Easter Island

Easter Island, also called Rapa Nui, is a remote volcanic island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean and a territory of Chile. It is renowned for the monumental stone moai built by its Polynesian inhabitants.

Moai: Monumental stone statues carved by the people of Rapa Nui, often with elongated faces and large heads. These statues are Easter Island’s most recognizable works and were placed across the island.
Rapa Nui people: The Polynesian people indigenous to Rapa Nui, with a distinct language and cultural traditions. They built the island’s monumental works and sustained its communities.
Rapa Nui statue transport: The methods used to move carved moai from quarries to platforms across Rapa Nui. Experiments and archaeological traces address how statues reached sites far from Rano Raraku.
Rapa Nui ecological history: The history of vegetation, animals, and human impacts on Rapa Nui’s ecosystems. Pollen, bones, and soil evidence inform accounts of landscape change.
Ahu: Ceremonial platforms on Rapa Nui, often built from stone and associated with burials and moai. Many moai stood on ahu platforms along the island’s coastline.
Polynesian navigation: The wayfinding practices Polynesian voyagers used to travel across the Pacific Ocean. Rapa Nui’s settlement depended on long-distance voyaging across open ocean.
Moai quarrying: The extraction and shaping of moai from volcanic stone on Rapa Nui. Quarry marks and abandoned figures reveal stages of statue production.
Rapa Nui deforestation: The loss of much of Rapa Nui’s native palm forest before European contact. Its timing and causes are central to arguments about ecological and social change.
Rano Raraku: A volcanic tuff quarry on Rapa Nui where most moai were carved. Its unfinished statues preserve evidence of how moai were made.
Rapa Nui language: An Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Indigenous people of Rapa Nui. Its Polynesian relationships connect the island’s history to other Pacific societies.

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