Monolithic statues on Easter Island. Easter Island: statues. Description and photo

Easter Island, which belongs to the Republic of Chile, is located in the southeastern part of Pacific Ocean. Its area is 165 sq. km, the distance to the nearest mainland is more than 3500 km.

The island got its name because it was discovered by Europeans on Easter Sunday in 1722. But the natives call their habitat Rapanui, which in translation from Polynesian means "Big Rapa".

The main asset of Rapanui, which attracts tourists from all over the world, are the huge coastline giants with big heads and formless body - moai.

The inhabitants of Rapanui believe that the spiritual power of the island is contained in the moai sculptures - mana, which helps to achieve success in love, victory in war and recovery from illness; the concentration of mana contributes to the establishment of good weather and the collection of a rich harvest.

In addition, this supernatural power in ancient times revived the moai statues, so they came to the place of installation themselves - the Rapanui people say this with confidence even today.

Jacob Roggeveen

Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutch navigator who is considered the discoverer of the island, having spent only one day there, told the following about the Rapanui people: they live in small reed huts, pray in the evenings huge statues, instead of a mattress, mats are used, and the role of pillows is assigned to stones. Roggeven could not believe that the natives, with their primitive way of life, built huge stone sculptures, so he decided that the figures were molded from clay and sprinkled with stones on top.

James Cook visited the island in 1774. The researcher was amazed: how the ancient Rapanui, devoid of any kind modern technologies, installed giant statues on stone plinths? He also noted that some of the sculptures were toppled during his stay at Rapanui.

What are the idols made of?

The vast majority of moai (95%) is made in large-block volcanic tuff that can be easily processed. The material for the manufacture of the remaining 5% of the giants are trachyte, red basalt volcanic pumice or basalt. One of the statues - especially revered by the Rapanui Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia - was carved from the mujierite of the Rano Kao volcano.

Many moai were made in a quarry located on the territory of the Rano Raraku volcano. Researchers admit that some of the statues were cut down from the deposits of other volcanoes, located closer to the place of their subsequent installation.

The size and weight of the giants

The average weight of most idols is about 5 tons with a height of 3-5 meters and a base width of just over one and a half meters. Statues taller (about 10-12 meters) and weighing more than 10 tons are less common on the island. They are mainly located on the outer slope of the Rano Raraku volcano.

The largest statue, measuring more than 20 meters and weighing about 145 tons, has not been separated from the base and is still in the quarry.

Location on the island

The most ancient moai were installed on ahu - long (from 10 to 160 meters) rectangular stone ceremonial platforms. On such pedestals were placed from one small statue to a number of giant giants. Some of the idols on such sites are equipped with red pukao cylinders.

The largest of the platforms, ahu Tongariki, holds 15 moai of various sizes.
Half of the sculptures, for unknown reasons, remained in Rano Raraku. Some of them are not completely cut down, at least they look unfinished, as if the sculptors were forced to suddenly leave their workplaces. But perhaps that was the intention of the authors.

Moai Mystery

For a long time, Europeans could not understand who was the author of the moai, what tools were used for making it, how giant giants moved around the island from the quarry to their destination, located 18 kilometers away, with what devices were huge sculptures installed on stone platforms? Over the past decades, researchers have been arguing with each other, trying to find answers to these questions.

"Long-eared" sculptors

In the 50s of the last century, Thor Heyerdahl landed on the island - a Norwegian traveler who organized archaeological expedition on Rapa Nui for the purpose of conducting an experiment on carving, moving and subsequent installation of moai.

In preparation for the experiment, it turned out that the creator of the huge heads was a tribe that outwardly differs from the main population of the island with earlobes elongated under the weight of jewelry - hence they got their name: “long-eared”.

This endangered tribe kept a secret for many centuries from all the other "short-eared" inhabitants of the island, who surrounded the moai with various superstitions and long time misleading European researchers.

Thor Heyerdahl asked the leader of the "long-ears" to reproduce the entire process of carving, moving around the island and installing one statue. The leader of the clan, Pedro Atan, replied that the last generations of the dying tribe were no longer engaged in the manufacture of statues, but in theory they know how to do this, since this knowledge was passed on to them by inheritance.

During the experiment, the tribe carved moai with stone hammers by frequent blows on the volcanic rock; the hammers were constantly destroyed, so the "long-eared" had to often change them for new ones.

Carved 12 ton statue large group people moved to the place of installation in a prone position, dragged. They installed the statue on its “legs” by placing stones under its base and using logs as levers.

There was only one question left: why, according to legend, the moai came to the installation site themselves in an upright position? Thirty years later, the Czech experimental archaeologist Pavel Pavel, together with Heyerdahl, conducted another test, during which 17 natives, armed with ropes, moved a 10-ton moai statue in a standing position in a short time.

Did the Moai cause the island to collapse?

The popular American evolutionary biologist and biogeographer Jared Diamond, based on data obtained by the British researcher John Flanley, in his book "Collapse" expressed confidence that stone giants led the island to deforestation, which provoked a food crisis, famine and population decline.

The scientist suggested: stone giants were made by two tribes at war with each other, who seemed to be competing in who could install a giant bigger size. For the leaders of these tribes, moai statues were the only way to demonstrate their power to their neighbor, the ability to satisfy their thirst for superiority.

According to Diamond, the movement of the statues around the island to their destination was carried out using wooden sledges moving on log rails (this method of moving the moai has also been successfully tested).

This required a lot of wood, which eventually led to the depletion of its reserves. Angry at the moai, the inhabitants of the island began to throw them off the platforms, so by the beginning of the 19th century, almost all the statues were toppled.

By the way, the vegetation on the island is indeed quite scarce: grass, sedge, ferns. The area looks devastated: there are no trees or bushes to be seen. But scientists disagree on what led the island to deforestation.

Wrongly accused moai?

Archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo strongly disagree with Diamond. They believe that the ancient Rapanui were peaceful sculptors and skilled farmers, and not ambitious forest destroyers at war with each other.

After excavations on the beach of Anakena, they stated: the first inhabitants on the island appeared no earlier than 1200, they simply could not completely lime the forests in 500 years. According to Kant and Lipo, the reason for the death of the forest was Polynesian rats eating the seeds of trees - this is confirmed by the fruits of an extinct giant palm tree found by archaeologists, on which small dents from teeth are visible.

The same researchers put forward the hypothesis that the moai statues moved vertically around the island with the help of a small group of people who did not need wooden devices. Most scientists agreed with this theory, it is also supported by oral folk art and big amount ancient drawings.

The former governor of the island of Rapanui once told archaeologists that the very shape of the statues made them "upright": the bulging bellies of the statues tilted the figure forward, and the shape of the base made it possible to swing them from side to side.

Hunt and Lipo decided to test this method of movement. The experiment proved that with three strong ropes, 18 people, having adapted themselves, can easily move a 5-ton statue hundreds of meters.

Of course, some of the sculptures moved by the ancient Rapanui were much larger than those involved in the experiment, and the path they had to face was more difficult: tens of kilometers along hilly terrain. Apparently, due to all these difficulties, dozens of idols never reached their destination, remained lying along the road leading from the quarry.

Moai statues today

As mentioned above, James Cook, during his visit to the island, noticed that some of the moai were upturned face down - before him, none of the travelers noticed this.

Many scholars associate the fall of the statues in the early 70s of the 18th century (that is, shortly before Cook's arrival) with the beginning civil war between the "long-eared" and "short-eared" inhabitants of the island. Other researchers claim that earthquakes and tsunamis are to blame.

IN last time standing statues found a French squadron that entered Easter Island in 1830. Since then, none of the Europeans have seen moai statues erected directly by the ancient Rapanui. All the sculptures that exist today on the island were restored in the 20th century. Not so long ago - in the 90s of the last century - their last restoration took place.

By the way, to see the moai, it is not at all necessary to go to distant lands (and the distance from Moscow to Easter Island is almost 16 thousand km): with the Hoa-Haka-Nana-Ia sculpture, for example, you can see it in the British Museum, where it was delivered back in 1868.

But it’s better to visit the island, especially since Rapanui has all the conditions for living and entertaining tourists today: excursions are organized, theaters give performances, museums, shops, restaurants, clubs work.

But most importantly, there is an opportunity to plunge into history, experience a whole range of emotions at the sight of powerful giants, feel the spirit of the ancient Rapanui people, and maybe even recharge with the sacred power of the island - mana - for many years to come. Easter Island is always waiting for its travelers!

All 300 years that have passed since that moment, scientists and researchers are trying to find out all the secrets of the Rapanui civilization that once lived on the territory of this island and answer the question: who built these monuments?

Many researchers who have studied these statues have come to the conclusion that locals could not in such isolation (the island is in the middle of the ocean) acquire knowledge that would be sufficient to create such monuments. Moreover, similar statues(they are called moai) were found during excavations in Tiahuanaco (Bolivia) and in the territory of the Marquesas Islands (Polynesia).

So, Easter Island is one of the most inland islands in the world…

• The territory of the island is located almost 4000 km from the coast South America, in the Southeast Pacific
• The area of ​​the island is 163.6 sq. km, on which about 5,000 people live today
• The main part of the population lives in the capital of the island - the city of Hanga Roa. It is the only city on the island where there are also 2 other small settlements: Mataveri and Moeroa

Easter Island - highest point above ocean level in a huge upland called the East Pacific Rise.

Local legends claim that Easter Island was once only part of one big country(many consider it the remainder). It is noteworthy that the legend looks plausible, since today on the island you can find a lot of evidence of this legend: roads that lead directly to the ocean, many underground tunnels that start in local caves and lead in an unknown direction and other facts.

Who built the idols of Easter Island?

Since the discovery of the island, scientists from all over the world have been hypothesizing how the locals could build statues without modern technology and how they transported such massive stone blocks from the quarry (it is located 7 km from the location of the statues). After all, the population of the island, even in its heyday, did not exceed 4,000 people.

In total, there are 887 monolithic statues on the island. The height of the moai ranges from 4 to 20 meters, some of them are placed on stone pedestals, the largest are immersed in the soil near the Rano Raraku volcano. On some statues there is a "headdress" - stone caps. The largest of the idols of Easter Island is 21.6 m high, its weight, according to experts, is about 160 tons.

Slightly less than half of the statues (394 pieces) remained in the quarry. Some of them lie there, not completed to the end, some are installed on a platform on the slopes of the crater. All these statues were not cut down to the end, as if something prevented this from being done. They are still there, waiting for their transportation.

Recently, archaeologists stunned the world community by unearthing one of the statues. It turned out that each statue has a "body" that is hidden underground. Unknown petroglyphs were found on the "trunks" of the idols of Easter Island, the meaning of which is still unknown.

Many researchers, having learned about the discovery, suggested that the statues were covered up to neck level as a result of a powerful tsunami that hit the island during the Great Flood. The water brought destruction and dirt with it, which later hid the bodies of the moai deep into the soil.

But who built these statues? The undoubted proof that this was done by a highly developed civilization are the platforms on which the statues stand. Or rather, an incomprehensible method of their manufacture. They are built on the principle of polygonal masonry, when huge massive blocks of stone are ideally adjusted to each other and stacked without the use of any binder (mortar, cement, etc.). Such masonry can be observed in the pyramid complex at Giza (Egypt), and other megalithic structures, which every year are increasingly being opened in various parts of the world.

Local legends tell that the statues were moved by the power of "mana" - the thoughts of the people who built them. The earliest architects are said to have used some kind of Te Pito Kura stone, which allowed them to concentrate their energy and move huge objects through the air.

During excavations on Easter Island, the famous Norwegian anthropologist T. Heyerdahl in 1987 dug out a massive wall of megalith stones at a depth of several meters. He was surprised, since the manufacturing technology of these blocks was identical to the one he saw in the Machu Picchu complex and.

A researcher from the USA, J. Chechvard, suggested that the builders of these monuments used such advanced technologies that they were tens and hundreds of times superior to modern ones. He suggested that the idols of Easter Island moved to ready-made through the use of antigravity. This allowed a civilization that, according to modern historians, disappeared more than 20,000 years ago, to create such massive structures and move huge objects with ease.

For many decades, scientists have tried to solve the mystery of building giant moai idols on one of the most mysterious islands- Easter. The researchers carefully studied not only the statues themselves, but also the area around them, trying to find an answer to the question of how the moai were transported, as well as how multi-ton stone red pukao hats appeared on their heads. The application of the laws of physics, methods of archeology and computer 3D modeling finally made it possible to find the answer to this phenomenon.

The most mysterious island

Tips of copies of the mat "a. / Photo: www.oursociety.ru

The researchers took into account not only the condition of the surface and the presence of scratches and damage on the idols and their hats, but also all the artifacts found and the state of the soil of the island.

ancient scientists moai

Another unique sitting moai Tukuturi.

• Address: Easter Island, Chile;
• Made by: between 1250 and 1500;
• Approximate quantity: 887 statues;
• Average weight: less than 5 tons;
• Average Height: 3-5 m.

One of the wonders of the world, moai statues, are located in the central Pacific Ocean. The island belongs to, it got its name because it was discovered Dutch navigator on Easter Sunday. In addition to statues, tourists come to see unique landscape, volcanic craters, beaches with clear blue water.

Everyone has seen statues on Easter Island at least once in absentia - there are plenty of photos of monuments, but they will not be able to create full impression, therefore, at the first opportunity, you should visit the island and see them live.

How many statues are on Easter Island? Thanks to constant archaeological excavations already managed to find about 887 statues. These stone giants with large heads and a shapeless body are scattered throughout the island.

What are the names of the statues on Easter Island? The locals call them moai, attributing special powers to them and believing that the spiritual power of the island is contained in the blocks. It is only thanks to her that good weather, success in love and war is possible, harvesting a rich harvest. Quite often you hear that stone statues Easter Islands themselves choose the installation site. Mana, the so-called supernatural power, animates the statues, after which they themselves find their place.

What are the statues on Easter Island made of? Their appearance dates back to the XIII-XVI centuries. Most moai are made of volcanic tuff, which is easy to work with, and only a small part is made of trachyte or basalt. There is also a statue especially revered by the local population - Hoa-Haka-Nan-Ia, which is made of mujierite from the Rano Khao volcano.

Where did the statues on Easter Island come from? Obviously, their construction took a lot of time and effort. At first, there were legends about the leader of the Hotu Matu'a clan, who was the first to find the island and settled on it. Only in 1955-1956 did the truth come to light, it happened when the famous Norwegian archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl visited - the statues, the origin of which occupied the minds of all scientists, were erected by the endangered tribe of "long-ears". Such strange name appeared because of the long earlobes, which were decorated with heavy earrings. Since the secret of creating moai was carefully hidden from the indigenous population, the inhabitants attributed miraculous properties to them.

As the surviving representatives of the “long-eared” tribe explained to the traveler, the moai monuments were created by their ancestors. They themselves knew the manufacturing process only in theory. But yielding to the requests of Thor Heyerdahl, the representatives of the tribe carved the statue with stone hammers, dragged it to a certain place, and lifted it, placing stones under the base, three logs acted as levers. This technology has been passed down orally from generation to generation. early years The children listened to the adults' stories and repeated what they remembered. This continued until the children learned the process completely.

Moai statues on Easter Island blamed for extinction local population. According to one group of scientists, the erection of monuments led to the destruction of the forest, because they were transported on wooden skating rinks. Because of this, sources of food were reduced, and famine soon set in. This led to the almost complete extinction of the local population. Another group of scientists claims that Polynesian rats became the reason for the disappearance of trees. Modern statues were restored already in the 20th century, as earthquakes and tsunamis badly damaged them. Only a few monuments erected by the ancient Rapanui have survived.

At first, stone moai were perceived as mysterious faces set on the slopes of Easter Island. Since archaeologists did not stop trying to understand the purpose of the idols, excavations began to be carried out. As a result, when the statues on Easter Island were unearthed, they found that the heads have torsos, the total length of the bodies reaches about 7 m. heads. Now that the whole world has discovered what was found under the statues on Easter Island, the flow of tourists has only increased, which the locals are very happy about, because tourism is the main source of income for the island.

Moai
Easter Island Mysteries