Editing Moai (section)

==History==
[[File:Easter Island map-en.svg|thumb|left|Map of [[Easter Island]] using moai to show locations of various [[Easter Island#Ahu (stone platforms)|''ahu'']]]]
The statues were carved by the aboriginal [[Polynesians]] of the island, mostly between 1250 and 1500.<ref name="fischer">Steven R Fischer. ''The island at the end of the world.'' Reaktion Books 2005 {{ISBN|1-86189-282-9}}</ref> In addition to representing [[veneration of the dead|deceased ancestors]], the moai, once they were erected on ahu, may also have been regarded as the embodiment of powerful living or former chiefs and important lineage status symbols.  Each moai presented a status: "The larger the statue placed upon an ahu, the more mana the chief who commissioned it had."<ref name="The Rise 2013" /> The competition for grandest statue was ever prevalent in the culture of the Easter Islanders. The proof stems from the varying sizes of moai.<ref name="The Rise 2013" />

Completed statues were moved to ahu mostly on the coast, then erected, sometimes with pukao, red stone cylinders, on their heads. Moai must have been very time-consuming to craft and transport; not only would the actual carving of each statue require effort and resources, but the finished product was then hauled to its final location and erected.

[[File:Isla de Pascua, Chile. 03.jpg|thumb|An incomplete moai in the quarry at [[Rano Raraku]]]]
The quarries in [[Rano Raraku]] appear to have been abandoned abruptly, with a litter of stone tools and many completed moai outside the quarry awaiting transport and almost as many incomplete statues still ''in situ'' as were installed on ahu. In the nineteenth century, this led to conjecture that the island was the remnant of a [[Mu (lost continent)#Easter Island|sunken continent]] and that most completed moai were under the sea. That idea has long been debunked, and now it is generally believed that:
* Some statues were rock carvings and never intended to be completed.
* Some were incomplete because, when [[Inclusion (mineral)|inclusion]]s were encountered, the carvers would abandon a partial statue and start a new one.{{sfn|Routledge|1919|p=181}} Tuff is a soft rock with occasional lumps of much harder rock included in it.
* Some completed statues at Rano Raraku were placed there permanently and not parked temporarily awaiting removal.{{sfn|Routledge|1919|p=186}}
* Some were indeed incomplete when the statue-building era came to an end.

===Craftsmen===
It is not known exactly which group in the communities were responsible for carving statues.  Oral traditions suggest that the moai were carved either by a distinguished class of professional carvers who were comparable in status to high-ranking members of other Polynesian craft guilds, or, alternatively, by members of each clan. The oral histories show that the Rano Raraku quarry was subdivided into different territories for each clan.

===Transportation===
Since the island was largely treeless by the time the Europeans first visited, the movement of the statues was a mystery for a long time. Study of fossil pollen and charcoal traces found in sediment cores collected in the island's three main crater lakes suggest that forests that originally covered the island were gradually logged between 800 and {{CE|1200|link=y}} (as the island was being settled by migrants from eastern Polynesia), then again in the decades or centuries before 1700.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-26 |title=Investigación con participación UdeC refuta teoría del ecocidio en Isla de Pascua: cortaron árboles por sequía |url=https://noticias.udec.cl/investigacion-con-participacion-udec-refuta-teoria-del-ecocidio-en-isla-de-pascua-cortaron-arboles-por-sequia/ |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Noticias UdeC |language=es}}</ref>
[[File:Ahu-Akivi-1.JPG|thumb|[[Ahu Akivi]], the furthest inland of all the ahu]]
It is not exactly known how the moai were moved across the island, however, there are numerous studies and theories discussing the topic. Earlier researchers assumed that the process required human energy, ropes, and possibly wooden sledges (sleds) or rollers, as well as leveled tracks across the island (the "Easter Island roads"). Another theory suggests that the moai were placed on top of logs and were rolled to their destinations.<ref>The human figures would be outlined in the rock wall first, then chipped away until only the image was left.[6]</ref> If that theory is correct, it would take 50–150 people to move the moai.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} The most recent study demonstrates from the evidence in the archaeological record that the statues were harnessed with ropes from two sides and made to "walk" by tilting them from side to side while pulling forward, in a vertical way.<ref name="The Statues That Walked" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |first1=Carl P. |last1=Lipo|first2=Terry L. |last2=Hunt|first3=Sergio Rapu |last3=Haoa |year=2013 |title=The 'Walking' Megalithic Statues (Moai) of Easter Island |journal=J. Archaeol. Sci. |volume=40 |issue=6 |page=2859 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2012.09.029|bibcode=2013JArSc..40.2859L }}</ref><ref name="NatGeoJuly2012">{{Cite journal |last=Bloch |first=Hannah |author-link=Hannah Bloch |date=July 2012 |title=Easter Island: The riddle of the moving statues |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120622-easter-island-statues-moved-hunt-lipo-science-rocked/ |url-status=dead |journal=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |publisher=National Geographic Society |volume=222 |issue=1 |pages=30–49 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529170604/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120622-easter-island-statues-moved-hunt-lipo-science-rocked |archive-date=29 May 2013 |access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2986&v=mH0sIjAHBVY Unsolved Mysteries: The Secret of Easter Island] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121122230/https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2986&v=mH0sIjAHBVY |date=21 November 2016 }} a test of walking the statues</ref>

Oral histories recount how various natives used divine power to command the statues to walk. The earliest accounts say a king named Tuu Ku Ihu moved them with the help of the god [[Makemake (mythology)|Makemake]], while later stories tell of a woman who lived alone on the mountain ordering them about at her will. Scholars currently support the theory that the main method was that the moai were "walked" upright (some assume by a rocking process), as laying it prone on a sledge (the method used by the Easter Islanders to move stone in the 1860s) would have required an estimated 1500 people to move the largest moai that had been successfully erected. In 1998, [[Jo Anne Van Tilburg]] suggested fewer than half that number could do it by placing the sledge on lubricated rollers. In 1999, she supervised an experiment to move a nine-tonne moai. A replica was loaded on a sledge built in the shape of an ''A'' frame that was placed on rollers and 60 people pulled on several ropes in two attempts to tow the moai. The first attempt failed when the rollers jammed up. The second attempt succeeded when tracks were embedded in the ground. This was on flat ground and used [[eucalyptus]] wood rather than the native palm trees.<ref name="histchan-megamovers">History channel "Mega Movers: Ancient Mystery Moves"</ref>

[[File:MoaiProtectionSign.jpg|thumb|Sign indicating the protected status of the moai]]
In 1986, [[Pavel Pavel]], [[Thor Heyerdahl]] and the [[Kon-Tiki Museum]] experimented with a five-tonne moai and a nine-tonne moai. With a rope around the head of the statue and another around the base, using eight workers for the smaller statue and 16 for the larger, they "walked" the moai forward by swiveling and rocking it from side to side; however, the experiment was ended early due to damage to the statue bases from chipping. Despite the early end to the experiment, Thor Heyerdahl estimated that this method for a 20-tonne statue over Easter Island terrain would allow {{convert|320|ft|m|-1}} per day. Other scholars concluded that it was probably not the way the moai were moved due to the reported damage to the base caused by the "shuffling" motion.<ref name="histchan-megamovers" /><ref>''Easter Island – the mystery solved''. [[Thor Heyerdahl]] 1989</ref>

Around the same time, archaeologist [[Charles Love]] experimented with a 10-tonne replica. His first experiment found rocking the statue to walk it was too unstable over more than a few hundred yards. He then found that placing the statue upright on two sled runners atop log rollers, 25 men were able to move the statue {{convert|150|ft|m}} in two minutes. In 2003, further research indicated this method could explain supposedly regularly spaced post holes (his research on this claim has not yet been published) where the statues were moved over rough ground. He suggested the holes contained upright posts on either side of the path so that as the statue passed between them, they were used as cantilevers for poles to help push the statue up a slope without the requirement of extra people pulling on the ropes and similarly to slow it on the downward slope. The poles could also act as a brake when needed.<ref name="Flenley">{{Cite book |last=Flenley |first=John |title=The Enigmas of Easter Island: Island on the Edge |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-19-280340-5}}</ref>

Based on detailed studies of the statues found along prehistoric roads, archaeologists [[Terry Hunt]] and [[Carl Lipo]] have shown that the pattern of breakage, form and position of statues is consistent with an upright hypothesis for transportation.<ref name="The Statues That Walked">{{Cite book |last1=Hunt |first1=Terry |title=The Statues That Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island |last2=Lipo |first2=Carl |publisher=Free Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4391-5031-3}}</ref> Hunt and Lipo argue that when the statues were carved at a quarry, the sculptors left their bases wide and curved along the front edge. They showed that statues along the road have a center of mass that causes the statue to lean forward. As the statue tilts forward, it rocks sideways along its curved front edge and takes a step.  Large flakes are seen broken off the sides of the bases. They argue that once the statue was walked down the road and installed in the landscape, the wide and curved base was carved down.<ref name="The Statues Walked">{{Cite web |last=Terry Hunt, Carl Lipo |title=The Statues Walked – What Really Happened on Easter Island – the Long Now |url=http://longnow.org/seminars/02013/jan/17/statues-walked-what-really-happened-easter-island/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215180304/http://longnow.org/seminars/02013/jan/17/statues-walked-what-really-happened-easter-island/ |archive-date=15 February 2017 |access-date=25 March 2017}}</ref>

Terry Hunt of UH Manoa and Carl Lipo of California State University Long Beach have worked closely with Rapa Nui archaeologist Sergio Rapu to develop their theory of how the Rapa Nui people rope walked the moai. It was through their successful moai walking recreation that it was proven that it is fully possible that the moai were literally walked from their quarries to their final positions by ingenious use of ropes. Teams of workers would have worked to rock the moai back and forth, creating the walking motion and holding the moai upright.<ref name=NatGeoJuly2012/><ref name="NOVA Easter Island">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/mystery-easter-island.html |title=Mystery of Easter Island |type=TV Documentary |publisher=NOVA and National Geographic Television |access-date=10 November 2012}}</ref> If correct, it can be inferred that the fallen road moai were the result of the teams of balancers being unable to keep the statue upright, and it was presumably not possible to lift the statues again once knocked over.<ref name="Walk">{{Cite magazine |title=Easter Island Statues Could Have 'Walked' Into Position |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/easter-island-moai/ |url-status=live |access-date=10 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530032450/http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/10/easter-island-moai |archive-date=30 May 2013}}</ref> However, the debate continues.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ghose |first=Tia |date=7 June 2013 |title=Easter Island's 'Walking' Stone Heads Stir Debate |work=[[LiveScience]] |url=http://www.livescience.com/37277-easter-island-statues-walked-there.html <!-- mirror: https://news.yahoo.com/easter-islands-walking-stone-heads-stir-debate-122723947.html --> |url-status=live |access-date=30 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123173247/https://www.livescience.com/37277-easter-island-statues-walked-there.html|archive-date=23 November 2020}}</ref>

===Birdman cult===
{{main|Tangata manu}}
Originally, Easter Islanders had a paramount chief or single leader.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} Through the years the power levels veered from sole chiefs to a warrior class known as matatoʻa. The [[Shapeshifting|therianthropic]] figure of a half bird and half-man was the symbol of the matatoʻa; the distinct character connected the sacred site of [[Orongo]]. The new cult prompted battles of tribes over worship of ancestry. Creating the moai was one way the islanders would honor their ancestors; during the height of the birdman cult there is evidence which suggests that the construction of moai stopped.
[[File:Stone Exhumed From Orongo, 1914. Bird-man in low relief with egg in hand. Length of carving, 36.5 cm. British Museum, The Mystery of Easter Island, published 1919.jpg|thumb|Petroglyph of a birdman with an egg in hand.]]
"One of the most fascinating sights at Orongo are the hundreds of petroglyphs carved with birdman and Makemake images. Carved into solid basalt, they have resisted ages of harsh weather. It has been suggested that the images represent birdman competition winners. Over 480 birdman petroglyphs have been found on the island, mostly around Orongo."<ref name="Mysterious Places 2013">"Mysterious Places: Explore Sacred Sites and Ancient Civilizations." Mysterious Places: Explore Sacred Sites and Ancient Civilizations. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 October 2013.</ref> Orongo, the site of the cult's festivities, was a dangerous landscape which consisted of a "narrow ridge between a {{convert|1000|ft|adj=on|}} drop into the ocean on one side and a deep crater on the other". Considered the sacred spot of Orongo, Mata Ngarau was the location where birdman priests prayed and chanted for a successful egg hunt. "The purpose of the birdman contest was to obtain the first egg of the season from the offshore islet Motu Nui. Contestants descended the sheer cliffs of Orongo and swam to Motu Nui where they awaited the coming of the birds. Having procured an egg, the contestant swam back and presented it to his sponsor, who then was declared birdman for that year, an important status position."<ref>"Easter Island – Moai Statues and Rock Art of Rapa Nui." The Birdman Motif of Easter Island. N.p., n.d. 29 October 2013.</ref>

===Moai Kavakava===
{{main|Moai kavakava}}
These figures are much smaller than the better-known stone moai. They are made of wood and have a small, slender aspect, giving them a sad appearance. These figures are believed to have been made after the civilization on Rapa Nui began to collapse, which is why they seem to have a more emaciated appearance to them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=F. Forment |last2=D. Huyge |last3=H. Valladas |year=2001 |title=AMS 14C age determinations of Rapanui (Easter Island) wood sculpture: moai kavakava ET 48.63 from Brussels |url=https://www.academia.edu/1651548 |url-status=live |journal=Antiquity |volume=75 |issue=289 |pages=529–32 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00088748 |s2cid=163659013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113020341/https://www.academia.edu/1651548 |archive-date=13 January 2022 |access-date=29 October 2013}}</ref>

===1722–1868 toppling of the moai===
[[File:Toppled moai.jpg|thumb|Toppled moai]]
In years after the arrival in 1722 of [[Jacob Roggeveen]], all of the moai that had been erected on ahu were toppled; some last standing statues were reported in 1838 by [[Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars]], but none remained by 1868,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=J. Linton Palmer |year=1870 |title=A visit to Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, in 1868 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449378 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of the Royal Geographical Society |volume=40 |pages=167–81 |doi=10.2307/1798641 |jstor=1798641 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212013903/https://zenodo.org/record/1449378 |archive-date=12 December 2019 |access-date=30 June 2019}}</ref> apart from the partially buried ones on the outer slopes of Rano Raraku.

Oral histories include an account of a clan pushing down a single moai in the night, but others tell of the "earth shaking", and there are indications that at least some of them fell down due to earthquakes.<ref name="Edmundo Edwards, Raul Marchetti, Leopoldo Dominichetti and Oscar Gonzales-Ferran 1996 1-15">{{Cite news |last1=Edmundo Edwards |last2=Raul Marchetti |last3=Leopoldo Dominichetti |last4=Oscar Gonzales-Ferran |year=1996 |title=When the Earth Trembled, the Statues Fell |volume=10 |pages=1–15 |work=Rapa Nui Journal |issue=1}}</ref> Some of the moai toppled forward such that their faces were hidden, and often fell in such a way that their necks broke; others fell off the back of their platforms.<ref name="Edmundo Edwards, Raul Marchetti, Leopoldo Dominichetti and Oscar Gonzales-Ferran 1996 1-15" /> Today, about 50 moai have been re-erected on their ahus or at museums elsewhere.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Terry L. Hunt |title=The Statues That Walked:Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island |last2=Carl P. Lipo |publisher=Free Press |year=2011 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

The Rapa Nui people were devastated by raids of slave traders who visited the island in 1862. Within a year, the individuals who remained on the island were sick or injured, and lacking leadership. The survivors of the [[slave raid]]s had new company from  missionaries, who converted the remaining populace to Christianity. Native Easter Islanders [[acculturation|began to be assimilated]], as their [[Religious perspectives on tattooing#Christianity|tattoos and body paint were banned]] by the new Christian proscriptions, and they were subjected to [[Forced displacement|removal from a portion of their native lands]] and made to reside on a [[Internally displaced person|much smaller portion of the island]], while the rest was used for farming by the Peruvians.

===Removal of moai from Easter Island===
{{Main|Relocation of moai}}
[[File:Moai Easter Island InvMH-35-61-1.jpg|thumb|upright|Original moai at the [[Louvre|Louvre Museum]], in [[Paris]]]]
Ten or more moai have been removed from Easter Island and transported to locations around the world, including the ones today displayed at the [[Louvre|Louvre Museum]] in [[Paris]] and the [[British Museum]] in [[London]].

===Replicas and casts===
Several other locations displays replicas (casts) of moai, including the [[Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County]]; the [[Auckland War Memorial Museum|Auckland Museum]];<ref>{{Cite web |title=Auckland Museum - Moai replica |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/am_humanhistory-object-101962 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003070846/https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/am_humanhistory-object-101962 |archive-date=3 October 2021 |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref> the [[American Museum of Natural History]];<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Museum of Natural History - Moai cast |url=https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/pacific-peoples/easter-island-moai-cast |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005232959/https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/pacific-peoples/easter-island-moai-cast |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref> and the campus of the [[American University]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |title=Welcome to American University, Washington, DC USA<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://www.american.edu/about/timeline.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826003126/http://www1.american.edu/about/timeline.html |archive-date=26 August 2012 |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref>