Editing Moai (section)

==Description==
[[File:Moai Rano raraku.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Moai set in the hillside at [[Rano Raraku]]]]
The moai are monolithic statues, and their minimalist style reflects forms found throughout [[Polynesia]]. Moai are carved from volcanic tuff (solidified [[volcanic ash|ash]]). The human figures would be outlined in the rock wall first, then chipped away until only the image was left.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What are Moai? |url=http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02100/easterislandmoai.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725155331/http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02100/easterislandmoai.htm |archive-date=25 July 2013 |access-date=6 October 2018 |publisher=Thinkquest (discontinued)}}</ref> The over-large heads (a three-to-five ratio between the head and the trunk, a sculptural trait consistent with the Polynesian belief in the sanctity of chiefly the head) have heavy brows and elongated noses with a distinctive fish-hook-shaped curl of the nostrils. The lips protrude in a thin pout. Like the nose, the ears are elongated and oblong in form. The jaw lines stand out against the truncated neck. The torsos are heavy; sometimes the clavicles are subtly outlined in stone too. The arms are carved in [[bas relief]] and rest against the body in various positions, hands and long slender fingers resting along the crests of the hips, meeting at the hami (loincloth), with the thumbs sometimes pointing towards the navel. Generally, the anatomical features of the backs are not detailed, but sometimes bear a ring and girdle motif on the buttocks and lower back. Except for one kneeling moai, the statues do not have clearly visible legs.

[[File:Cantera de moais.jpg|thumb|Moʻai quarry at Rano Raraku]]
Though moai are whole-body statues,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cascone |first=Sarah |date=1 May 2015 |title=Apparently Easter Island's Heads Have Bodies |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/easter-island-head-bodies-293799 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202221312/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/easter-island-head-bodies-293799 |archive-date=2 December 2021 |access-date=2 December 2021 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref> they are often referred to as "Easter Island heads" in some popular literature. This is partly because of the disproportionate size of most moai heads, and partly because many of the images for the island showing upright moai are of the statues on the slopes of [[Rano Raraku]], many of which are buried to their shoulders, which has led to a popular misconception that they don't have bodies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mikkelson |first=David |date=May 14, 2012 |title=Do Easter Island Heads Have Bodies? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/head-case/ |access-date=June 25, 2024 |website=[[Snopes]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Solly |first=Meilan |date=April 8, 2019 |title=Norway Will Repatriate Thousands of Artifacts Taken From Easter Island |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/norway-will-repatriate-thousands-artifacts-taken-easter-island-180971846/ |access-date=June 25, 2024 |work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]}}</ref> Some of the "heads" at Rano Raraku have been excavated and their bodies seen, and observed to have markings that had been protected from erosion by their burial. {{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

The average height of the moai is about {{convert|4|m|ft|abbr=on}}, with the average width at the base around {{convert|1.6|m|ft|abbr=on}}. These massive creations usually weigh around 12.5 tonnes (13.8 tons) each.

All but 53 of the more than 900 moai known to date were carved from [[tuff]] (a compressed volcanic ash) from [[Rano Raraku]], where 394 moai in varying states of completion are still visible today. There are also 13 moai carved from [[basalt]], 22 from [[trachyte]] and 17 from fragile red [[scoria]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Tilburg |first=Jo Anne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=infjAAAAMAAJ&q=scoria |title=Easter Island: Archaeology, Ecology and Culture |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0714125046 |location=Washington, DC |page=24 |access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref> At the end of carving, the builders would rub the statue with [[pumice]].

===Characteristics===
[[File:Ahu Tahai.jpg|thumb|upright|Re-erected tuff moai at Ahu Tahai with restored [[pukao]] and replica eyes]]
Easter Island statues are known for their large, broad noses and big chins, along with rectangle-shaped ears and deep eye slits. Their bodies are normally [[Squatting position|squatting]], with their arms resting in different positions and are without legs. The majority of the ahu are found along the coast and face inland towards the community.  There are some inland ahu such as [[Ahu Akivi]]. These moai face the community but given the small size of the island, also appear to face the coast.<ref name="Pbs.org" />

====Eyes====
In 1979, [[Sergio Rapu Haoa]] and a team of [[archaeologist]]s discovered that the hemispherical or deep elliptical eye sockets were designed to hold coral eyes with either black [[obsidian]] or red scoria pupils.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ford |first=Nick |date=15 December 2013 |title=Views on the origin and purpose of the Easter Island statues |url=http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/views-on-the-origin-and-purpose-of-the-easter-island-statues-11596/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630130949/http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/views-on-the-origin-and-purpose-of-the-easter-island-statues-11596/ |archive-date=30 June 2014}}</ref> The discovery was made by collecting and reassembling broken fragments of white coral that were found at the various sites. Subsequently, previously uncategorized finds in the Easter Island museum were re-examined and recategorized as eye fragments. It is thought that the moai with carved eye sockets were probably allocated to the [[Ahu (Easter Island)|ahu]] and ceremonial sites, suggesting that a selective Rapa Nui hierarchy was attributed to the moai design until its demise with the advent of the religion revolving around the [[tangata manu]].

===Symbolism===
Many archaeologists suggest that "[the] statues were thus symbols of authority and power, both religious and political. However, they were not only symbols. To the people who erected and used them, they were actual repositories of sacred spirit. Carved stone and wooden objects in ancient Polynesian religions, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, were believed to be charged by a magical spiritual essence called mana."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Easter Island |url=https://sacredsites.com/americas/chile/easter_island.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213224232/https://sacredsites.com/americas/chile/easter_island.html |archive-date=13 February 2021 |access-date=7 February 2021 |website=Sacred Sites: World Pilgrimage Guide |language=en-gb}}</ref>

Archaeologists believe that the statues were a representation of the ancient Polynesians' ancestors. The moai statues face away from the ocean and towards the villages as if to watch over the people. The exception is the seven Ahu Akivi which face out to sea to help travelers find the island. There is a legend that says there were seven men who waited for their king to arrive.<ref>"Mystery of the Easter Island Statues." Red Ice Creations. N.p., 27 October 2011. Web. 30 October 2013.</ref> A study in 2019 concluded that ancient people believed that quarrying of the moai might be related to improving soil fertility and thereby critical food supplies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sarah C. Sherwood |last2=Jo Anne Van Tilburg |last3=Casey R. Barrier |last4=Mark Horrocks |last5=Richard K. Dunn |last6=José Miguel Ramírez-Aliaga |year=2019 |title=New excavations in Easter Island's statue quarry: Soil fertility, site formation and chronology |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=111 |page=104994 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2019.104994 |bibcode=2019JArSc.111j4994S |s2cid=210318823}}</ref>

====''Pukao'' topknots and headdresses====
{{Main|Pukao}}
The more recent moai had ''[[pukao]]'' on their heads, which represent the [[Māori people|topknot]] of the chieftains. According to local tradition, the [[Mana (Oceanian mythology)|mana]] was preserved in the hair. The pukao were carved out of red scoria, a very light rock from a quarry at [[Puna Pau]]. Red itself is considered a sacred color in Polynesia. The added pukao suggest a further status to the moai.<ref name="The Rise 2013">{{Cite web |date=2011 |title=The Rise & Fall of Easter Island's Culture. Sentinels in Stone |url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/easter/sentinels_in_stone.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928213331/http://bradshawfoundation.com/easter/sentinels_in_stone.php |archive-date=28 September 2018 |access-date=6 October 2018 |publisher=Bradshaw Foundation}}</ref> <!-- ORIG INFORMATION: 29 October 2013. -->

====Markings====
[[File:View of the back of a moai with petroglyph carvings, partially excavated; a South American man is sitting on the ground, with one bare foot on the shoulder of the sculpture; Rano Raraku, Oc,G.T.1465, Mana Expedition to Easter Island, British Museum.jpg|thumb|upright|Petroglyphs on the back of an excavated moai.]]
When first carved, the surface of the moai was polished smooth by rubbing with pumice. However, the easily worked tuff from which most moai were carved is easily eroded, such that the best place to see the surface detail is on the few moai carved from basalt or in photographs and other archaeological records of moai surfaces protected by burials.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

Moai that are less eroded typically have designs carved on their backs and posteriors. The [[Katherine Routledge|Routledge]] expedition of 1914 established a cultural link{{sfn|Routledge|1919|p=220}} between these designs and the island's traditional tattooing, which had been repressed by missionaries a half-century earlier. Until modern DNA analysis of the islanders and their ancestors, this was key scientific evidence that the moai had been carved by the Rapa Nui and not by a separate group from [[South America]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

At least some of the moai were painted. One moai in the collection of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] was decorated with a reddish pigment.<ref name="Kjellgren Van Tilburg Kaeppler 2001 p. 58">{{Cite book |last1=Kjellgren |first1=E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuRdI3s5NCYC&pg=PA58 |title=Splendid Isolation: Art of Easter Island |last2=Van Tilburg |first2=J.A. |last3=Kaeppler |first3=A.L. |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-58839-011-0 |page=58 |access-date=2022-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114034112/https://books.google.com/books?id=YuRdI3s5NCYC&pg=PA58 |archive-date=14 January 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Hoa Hakananai'a]]'' was decorated with maroon and white paint until 1868, when it was removed from the island.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Horley|first1=P|last2=Lee|first2=G|title=Rock art of the sacred precinct at Mata Ngarau, 'Orongo|journal=Rapa Nui Journal|date=2008|volume=22|issue=2|pages=112–14}}</ref>{{sfn|Pitts|2014|pp=39–48}} It is now housed in the [[British Museum]], London, but demands have been made for its return to Rapa Nui.<ref>{{cite news |title=Easter Island governor begs British Museum to return Moai: 'You have our soul' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/20/easter-island-british-museum-return-moai-statue |access-date=17 March 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=20 November 2018}}</ref>