Editing Moai (section)

===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>