Easter Island. Rapa Nui National Park. Food. What to try. Mysterious moai statues

Easter Island has a unique landscape with volcanic craters, lava formations, glowing blue water, beaches, low hills, livestock farms and many archaeological sites, and most of them are devoted to the study of moai figures. They reach a height of 10 m. One of the figures, on the Anakena beach, was installed almost in its original position, and a memorial plaque was placed next to it in memory of the arrival of Thor Heyerdahl in 1955.

The rest of the figures are scattered around the island. Each of them has its own name. Poike is a statue with an open mouth, which is very loved by the locals. Ahu Tahai is another notable statue, with beautifully shaped eyes and a hairdo on top of her head. From here you can reach two of the many caves on the island - one of them seems to have been the center of religious ceremonies.

History of Easter Island

The sailors, when they first saw the island, were amazed by these colossal stone statues lined up along the coast of the island. What kind of people were they capable of installing multi-ton stone giants? Why did they settle in such a secluded place? Where did the stone from which the sculptures are made come from?

The first settlers on the island were Polynesians in the 5th century BC. Their culture has survived to this day in the form of giant stone figures. (moai). The bearers of this culture were also called "long-eared", because it was customary for them to stretch their earlobes to the shoulders. In the XIV century. under the leadership of Hotu-Matu "and" short-eared ", adherents of the culture of" bird-men "landed on the island." By the end of the 17th century, they managed to destroy the "long-eared" natives, and their culture was lost. Only fragmentary information has been preserved about the ancient culture of Easter Island.

It is generally accepted that the leader of the tribe, on the eve of death, ordered to carve a moai in the tuff rock of the Rana-Raraku volcano - his own portrait in the form of a bird-man. After the death of the leader, moai were placed on ahu, i.e. in the sanctuary, and his gaze was fixed on the dwellings of the tribe. It was believed that in this way he was able to transfer strength and wisdom to the heirs, and at the same time protect them in a moment of trouble. Today, many moai (height 12 m, weighing several tons) restored and can be viewed. These are Tahai, Tongariki, Akivi, Hekii and Anakena - the place where Hotu-Matu landed.

In Orongo (Orongo), a place at the foot of the Ranu-Kau volcano, the first settlers built a sanctuary for the supreme deity Makemake and annually sacrificed to the bird-man. To do this, from the island of Motu Nui, located at a distance of 1 km, the first tern egg was delivered here, which was considered the incarnation of a deity. All local tribes participated in competitions for swimming speed, and the leader of the victorious tribe took the place of the bird-man.

His head and eyebrows were shaved, and his face was covered with black and red paint and settled in a special ritual dwelling. Thus, for a year he became the spiritual leader of all the tribes inhabiting the island. The warrior who won the competition, who brought victory to his leader, was not forgotten either - he was awarded with all kinds of gifts.

The inhabitants of Easter Island owned a script that is not fully deciphered. Small wooden tablets are covered with carved inscriptions. (gopdo gopdo) that have survived to this day. These tablets are in every house on the island, but none of the residents could really explain their meaning and purpose. Rongo-rongo no larger than 30-50 cm in size, the drawings on them depict animals, birds, plants and astronomical signs. Conventionally, the images can be divided into three themes: the first depict local gods, the second depict the actions of the islanders, including the crimes they committed, and the third are dedicated to the history of internecine wars. The islanders were also excellent portrait carvers, as the small church at Hanga Roa testifies. Here, ancient pagan beliefs merge with Christianity: a bird is certainly depicted above the heads of the saints.

According to legend, in 1400 a small handful of Polynesians, led by the leader Hotu Matua, in their canoes reached desert island in the vast Pacific Ocean. They named it Te-Pito-te-Khenua, "the navel of the earth." And Hotu Matua established several holy places along the coast. On the islands where he came from - perhaps the Marquesas, there was a custom to install moai, monuments to the leaders of the tribe in the form of monumental stone statues.

The idols - numbering 900 in their completed form - have a height of more than 10 m and a girth of 4.5 m, and unfinished statues lie in the quarry, whose height should have been 22 m! Perhaps they were moved from place to place with the help of thick wooden rollers made from tree trunks that grew in the jungle.

The grandiose figures first plunged onto tree trunks, which served either as rollers or sledges. They were then slowly pushed through miles of dense jungle. To cope with such work, the efforts of more than one hundred people would be required.

In 1722, the first European landed on the island - the Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen. On this day, the Christian world celebrated Easter, which is why it happens European name Rapa Nui.

Captain James Cook visited Easter Island in 1774 and found that most of the idols were down, and some were completely broken or showed signs of abuse. The island was practically uninhabited, and the miserable remnants of the once numerous tribe huddled in fear in some terrible caves. What's happened? The islanders' explanations were jerky and contradictory. Archeology gave scientists more coherent information: soon after the departure of the Dutch expedition, a demographic catastrophe occurred on the island - overpopulation and famine. The cult of stone idols led to the fact that the forest on the island was reduced, respectively, reducing the sources of food. Several lean years in a row made the situation catastrophic. Bloody civil strife and cannibalism began. When Captain Cook arrived on the island, he counted only 4,000 inhabitants instead of the 20,000 reported by Roggeveen in 1722. But the worst was yet to come. In 1862, Peruvian soldiers landed on the island and took away 900 people as slaves. Later, part of the population was sent to Peru as slaves, and the rest also did not stay long on the island. By 1877, only 111 people remained on Easter Island. Later, part of the population was sent to Peru as slaves, and the rest also did not stay long on the island. In 1888, Chile annexed it to its territory. There was no self-government until 1966, when the islanders first elected their own president.

The eastern part of Easter Island, called Poike, was formed 2.5 million years ago as a result of powerful eruption volcano. After 1 million years, there was South part islands, Ranu Kau, and 240 thousand years ago - Maunga Terevaka in the northeast, the highest island mountain (509 m).

On Easter Island there is a settlement of Hanga Roa, where most of the population lives. Their existence is provided mainly by tourism. There are various hotels and restaurants here, and the extremely friendly locals will make sure that your stay here is comfortable and unforgettable.

Since 1964, an airport has been operating on Easter Island, which has strengthened ties with the outside world. Every year, this mysterious piece of land is visited by at least 20,000 tourists. For the 3,800 people now living on the island, sheep farming, modeled after the end of the 19th century. is an important part of the economy.

When to come

The most suitable period to visit Easter Island is from October to April, during this period the air temperature warms up to 22-30 ° C, and the water in the ocean - up to 20-23 ° C. It often rains from May to September, the weather is windy and cloudy, but it is still warm and the temperature fluctuates between 17 and 20 °C.

Easter Island beaches

The beaches of Easter Island are some of the best in Chile, summer time the water warms up well, so families with children often come here. Anakena Beach deserves a special recommendation: quiet bay, tall palm trees, sand that, when wet, takes on a pink tint, silent statues of formidable moai - all this conquers at first sight and makes you forget about time.

Tapati Rapa Nui Festival

If you find yourself on Easter Island at the end of January, be sure to visit the Tapati Rapa Nui folklore festival, which is a competition of dance and music ensembles. Both island teams and teams from Tahiti participate in the competition.

In addition, a Queen will be elected during the festival. Moreover, not only the contenders themselves, but also their relatives will fight for the title. The girl who will be the most pretty and whose relatives will be able to catch the most fish and weave the longest cloth will win.

Visiting attractions

Since 2011 on Easter Island has been working new system payment for visiting attractions. Arriving on the island, each tourist will purchase a bracelet on his hand, which will give him the right to multiple visits to all the sights of the island. The exceptions are the Orongo ceremonial center and the Rano Raraku volcano, which can be viewed once. The authorities were forced to take such a non-standard step, since until now a large number of tourists tried to evade paying for a visit. Now the situation with the "hares" must be resolved radically.

Wristbands can be purchased at Mataveri Airport, they are valid for five days and cost $21 for Chilean residents and $50 for foreign tourists. The bracelet can be transferred to another person.

Mysterious moai

With the phrase "Easter Island", the first thing that appears before your eyes is the rows of huge moai statues, their stern gazes turned into the distance. The creation and history of these frozen statues for a long time remained a mystery to scientists, even today many aspects continue to remain not fully clarified or controversial.

It is believed that the inhabitants of Easter Island made moai statues in honor of deceased relatives. (in another version - dead leaders) and installed on a special platform, which was called ahu and was nothing more than a burial place. Each clan had its own ahu. The islanders worshiped moai, and they gave them strength and protected their descendants from various disasters. The rite of worship of the moai looked like this: opposite the ahu, a fire was made, next to which the worshipers were placed on their haunches, with their faces down, they rhythmically raised and lowered their palms folded together.

To date, it is known that the statues were made in the quarry of the extinct volcano Ranu Raraku, unfinished moai were also found there, including the largest 21-meter El Gigante. On average, the height of the statues ranges from 3 to 5 m, statues of 10-12 m are less common. On the heads of some statues, you can see "caps" made of red rocks of the Puno Pao volcano - pukao. They were supposed to symbolize the typical hairstyle of the islanders.

Most of the scientific debate revolves around how the locals managed to transport these huge statues from the quarry to the ahu platforms. There are currently two main versions. According to one, the statues were brought to their destination by portage using various wooden rails, stops and other devices. As an argument in favor of this version, its defenders cite the fact that there are virtually no forest areas left on the island, all of which were used to roll statues. In the mid 50s. 20th century Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, together with the descendants of the native tribe of the "long-eared", carried out an experiment on carving, transporting and installing a moai statue. The last "long-eared" showed scientists how their ancestors carved statues with stone hammers, then dragged the statue with a drag in the prone position, and, finally, using a simple mechanism consisting of stones and three levers, installed it on the platform. When scientists asked why they had not told about this before, the natives replied that no one had asked them about it before. According to another version (it was put forward by the Czech researcher Pavel Pavel) the statues were moved in a vertical position with the help of cables. With this method of transportation, the impression was created that the statues were “walking”. In 2012, a group of anthropologists during the experiment successfully proved the legitimacy of this version.

Heads and Tails: Easter Island

Data

• Name and Dimensions: Easter Island is also known as Rapa Nui. Its area is about 162.5 sq. km.
• Location: The island lies at 27°S, 109°W. Politically, it is considered a territory of Chile. The nearest inhabited land is Pitcairn Island, more than 2,000 km to the west. To Chile 3700 km, to Tahiti - 4000 km.
• Uniqueness: Fame for Easter Island brought its stone idols made from local volcanic tuff. More than 10 m high, they weigh more than 150 tons.
• UNESCO World Heritage List: The island was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995.

Easter Island(Spanish) Isla de Pascua, in Rapa Nui Rapa Nui) is the most remote inhabited island in the world, the distance to the nearest inhabited place is Pitcairn Islands- 1819 km and to the continental coast Chile- 3703 km.

Name of Easter Island

Easter Island named so by its discoverer - a Dutch traveler Jacob Roggeveen, since it was discovered on Easter Day in 1722. This island is also known as Rapa Nui, (big Rapa), as the island was called by Polynesian (Tahitian) sailors and whalers, as opposed to simply Brine- islands 650 km south of Tahiti.

Location of Easter Island

Easter Island is located in pacific ocean(27 ° 07 "S. 109 ° 21" W), geographically it belongs to Polynesia, this is the most eastern point"Polynesian Triangle". The nearest continent, South America, is located more than 3,700 km to the east from Easter Island.

form Easter Island resembles a right triangle. Island volcanic origin. At the corners of the island rise extinct volcanoes: early kao(324 m), Pua Katiki(377 m) and Terevaka(539 m, highest point islands). The length from west to east is 24 km, from north to south - 12 km. The area of ​​the island is 163.6 km2.

Administratively Easter Island part of the Chilean region Valparaiso, headed by a governor accredited to the Chilean government and appointed by the president Chile.

Capital easter islands, the only permanent settlement, Hanga Roa located in the southwest of the island. There is an airport near the city Mataveri.

Airport Mataveri built in 1962 by specialists from the American NASA: V pacific ocean urgently needed a space launch tracking base and a reliable runway to rescue astronauts during emergency landings.

Climate of Easter Island

Climate easter islands subtropical. The average annual temperature is 21.8 °C, the most cold month- August (19.2 °C), the warmest - January (24.6 °C). Despite being close to the tropics, temperatures are comparatively mild. Heat is rare. This is due to the proximity of the cold Humboldt Current.

History of Easter Island

Easter Island known primarily for the numerous stone statues - moai, created ancient civilization islands.

About even the approximate date of settlement easter islands so far in scientific environment there are heated debates. It is assumed that the first settlers appeared here from the 300-400s to the 1200s. n. e. According to local legends, the settlers arrived on the island on two huge pirogues with large families. The settlements were founded by the legendary leader and father of all Rapanui Hotu Matu'a.

Who the first Rapanui were and where they came from is also a moot point. Linguistically, the Rapanui language is confidently attributed to the Polynesian group, most researchers consider the Rapanui to come from Eastern Polynesia, ethnically close to the people Maori(New Zealand). It is also interesting that on Easter Island, the only one in the distribution area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Polynesian languages, there was a written language before the arrival of Europeans. There were at least three writing systems, the best known of which is rongo-rongo- hieroglyphic carving on wooden boards. None of the scripts has been deciphered to date, the last carrier of rongo-rongo was forcibly taken to Peru to slave labor in 1863.

Famous traveler and explorer Thor Heyerdahl defended the opposite, South American, Peruvian origin of the Rapanui and gave a lot of evidence of the origin of the inhabitants easter islands from South American Indians.

There is also a third, less popular theory about the origin of the Rapanui from the Melanesians, finding cultural parallels on Solomon Islands And New Guinea.

Recorded on Easter Island the legend of the war of two island tribes - long-eared (hanau-eepe) And short-eared (hanau-momoko) is considered by some researchers to be confirmation of the simultaneous presence of different races on the island, most often Peruvians and Polynesians.

The highest cultural flourishing civilization easter islands reached in the XVI-XVII centuries, when the population was supposedly about 10 thousand people.

As a result of an anthropogenic ecological catastrophe (all the forests on the island were cut down, the population was deprived of food sources and material for making boats) and a series of wars, the population had decreased to 2 thousand people by the time the first Europeans appeared on the island. Subsequently, almost all Rapanui were taken to Peru for slave labor. In 1888, when Easter Island annexed Chile only 178 people lived on the island local residents. Currently on Easter Island 3.7 thousand people live, about 60% of which are indigenous Rapanui.

The ancient Rapanui were not only extremely warlike, they were engaged in cannibalism - they ate human meat. Fingers and toes were considered a delicacy.

Almost the only documented Rapa Nui rite was the competition to find the first egg, reflected in the popular adventure feature film. Kevin Costner "Rapa Nui": young warriors of different clans on a certain day went swimming on reed bundles to a nearby rocky islet Motu Nui, where they searched for the first egg of the season of the sooty tern. The whole egg must be delivered back to Easter Island and hand over to the leader. The rite was an element of the cult Tangata-manu(bird-man). The Rapanui are sometimes referred to as "bird worshipers". One of the most frequent themes in petroglyphs (rock carvings), after the male and female genital organs, were birds and, especially, the frigate bird, both in the direct image and in the image of a man with the head of a frigate.

Attractions Easter Island

Moai, ahu, pukao

The main attraction of the island - stone idols - moai(literally from Rapanui - images). As soon as they are not called: statues, and giants, and idols, and colossi. Representatives of our company during the study tour proposed a new term, vividly picked up by domestic tourists - " doldons".

Overwhelming majority " doldons"carved out of the rock of the volcano Rano Raraku. The largest (unfinished) statue measured about 20 m and weighed 270 tons. Moai "doldons" were delivered in a completely incomprehensible way to the coast, where they were installed with their backs to the ocean, facing inland. A total of 997 moai are recorded on the island ( see map about. Easter above).

It is known that moai were considered receptacles of a special magical power - mana ancestors of the Rapanui.

Outwardly, moai are strikingly different from each other, there are several types of statues. Various hypotheses explain the variety of styles either by a gradual change of "fashion" for pictorial means, or by the actual depiction of different island races with their external differences (of course, assuming that ethnically different peoples existed on the island).

Transportation methods giant statues are discussed by numerous groups of enthusiasts around the world, mathematical calculations and experiments are being carried out, but local legend says that "moai walked by themselves."

Almost all "doldons" have reached the new time in a fallen form. It is believed that the massive overthrow of the moai took place during inter-clan wars on the island. Currently, many statues are set back to their rightful places.

Moai were installed on a pedestal ( ahu), and sometimes supplemented with a cap ( pukao) from red tufa. It is considered proven that at least some "doldons" had eyes made of white coral. Some of the idols have now reconstructed eyes.

On the slopes Rano Raraku currently there are many unfinished statues at various stages of production. There is a complete impression of the sudden cessation of moai production.

Rano Raraku

Rano Raraku- an ancient volcano, on the slopes of which there are about 300 moai, of various heights and at different stages of readiness. Not far from the bay is ahu tongariki, the largest ritual site with 15 statues of various sizes installed on it.

Anakena

Anakena- a bay with a beach of coral sand. According to legend, it was here that the leader and forefather of the Rapanui people landed. Hotu Matu'a. Nearby are ahu Ature-Hooks And Naunau.

puna pau

puna pau- a small volcano where red tuff was mined for the manufacture of pukao hats crowning moai heads.

early kao

early kao- a volcano with the best observation deck of the island. Nearby is ahu Orongo.

Mysterious moai statues Rapa Nui stand in silence, but speak more eloquently than any words about the achievements of their creators. Stone blocks from which statues are carved in the form of a head and torso, on average 4 meters high and weighing 14 tons. The effort to build these monuments and move them around the island must have been considerable, but no one knows exactly why the people of Rapa Nui set themselves such a task. Most scholars suspect that moai were created in honor of ancestors, leaders, or other important characters, however, there is no oral or written evidence of this on the island, so one cannot be sure of this. Polynesian society flourished in this unique place, after hardy men had led a fleet of wooden outrigger canoes to this tiny speck in the immensity of the Pacific Ocean. Here, in isolation approximately 3,700 kilometers west of South America and 1,770 kilometers from the nearest neighboring island, Rapa Nui has developed a distinct architectural and artistic culture. This culture reached its zenith during the 16th century when approximately 900 moai were carved and erected throughout the island.
It is believed that the decline Rapa Nui followed because of the ecological catastrophe that they themselves created. It is not yet clear when the islands were first settled; Estimates vary from 800 AD to 800 AD. before 1200. It is also not clear how quickly the island ecosystem was destroyed - but the main factor is the reduction of millions of giant palms to clear fields and build fires. It is possible that the Polynesian rats arriving with the human settlers ate enough of the seeds to help destroy the trees.
In any case, the loss of trees has exposed the island's rich volcanic soils to severe erosion. When the Europeans arrived in 1722, they found the island sparsely populated and mostly barren. Today, many tourists come here, mainly to visit the quarry. volcano Rano Raraku, where the stones were taken from to create almost all the moai on the island. Meanwhile, across the island, many moai are gradually being transformed from priceless figures into mere pieces of rock. Volcanic rocks are subject to weathering and great efforts are needed to preserve heritage Rapa Nui in their current, impressive form.

How to get to Easter Island

When is the best time to visit Easter Island

How to get around the island

» Moai - idols of Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Once I wrote 2 posts about Easter Island (aka - Rapa Nui island: , ), but, in the end, I felt underestimated: few people liked it without idols. Now there will be a post with idols. Only with us - regime light, rare angles and mysterious phenomena. Forbidden historical questions, ancient races, paleocontacts, connection between idols and ancient Rus.

[Almost all moai the islands were carved in one place, in the Rano Raraku volcano, in east corner islands:

Volcano Rano Raraku

the same Rano Raraku(Rano Raraku):

On the southern slope of the volcano stands, lies a huge amount moai in various stages of readiness and preservation. All the territories of the national park on the island are freely available: just come, spin the anti-cow turntable and enter, and Rano Raraku- one of two behind the fence, with a gate that closes at night and a ranger town. If you arrive at the opening, by 9:00, then at first you can wait half an hour for the late Chilean Rangers, and then everything world heritage long hours will belong to you in one person:

Two undercut moai. They are probably 10-15 meters and 150 tons:

All idols are the same except for one. There's a sitting tiki here moai Tukuturi(Tukuturi), the only one of its kind on Easter Island: firstly, it sits, secondly, it is made of red pumice from a crater . Similar ones could be seen or (in the background on the right is a volcano Poike(Poike). There are no roads, and people walk on it hiking. But fucking Air France - listen, never use fucking Air France - they stole my day on the island from me and I didn’t have time to cheer there).

Let's go up to the crater itself: below is a small freshwater lake overgrown with reeds, which until the very last moment served as the island's source of fresh water. Not everyone gets here, being satisfied with the inspection of the outer walls:

A few years ago, Putin dived to the bottom of the lake and found the head:

Here at these heads, scientists measure erosion:

The sun reaches its zenith and Rano Raraku completed by researchers. Finnish tourists inspecting tiki moai:

Ahu Tongariki

On the seashore, a kilometer from Rano Raraku, is located Ahu Tongariki(Ahu Tongariki)- main temple eastern clan. All this was built not so long ago, around the 15th century (like the vast majority of megalithic monuments throughout).

The picture on the left is a volcano. Rano Raraku, in the center - Ahu Tongariki, and on the right is a volcano Poike:

Ahu Tongariki around 1915, all the idols are knocked down - it was destroyed in the civil war of the islanders of the 1770s:


Panorama Ahu Tongariki, 1914-15, Mana Expedition to Easter Island; British Museum

Tongariki it has since been restored, and then it was demolished by the tsunami in 1960:


Easter Island. 1960. Ahu Tongariki. Photograph taken shortly after the destruction of the ahu by the tsunami of May 22, 1960. Lorenzo Dominguez is standing on the right.

And once again restored with a Japanese grant in 1992-1996:

Archivo Instituto Isla de Pascua, F.A.U. University of Chile.

There are so many photos of moai used every day on the Internet and offline press that, if nothing is done, they will completely run out by 2014. If you come to Ahu Tongariki before dawn, you will see dozens of photographers at work: in this place the sun rises beautifully behind the backs of idols, so this is where the cutting edge of the front for making photos of idols:

Here is a real temple of creativity:

"Canons", "Nikons", "Olympus", everything goes into business:

Anakena beach

Look at the northern coast of the island: here is the bay Anakena(Anakena), the only easily accessible sand beach on the island.

Polynesian palm trees have been restored here, completely lost even before civil war Rapanui - so they grow in rows:

On the heads of tiki moai, of course, pukao: red pumice millstones carved in a crater on the hellish other side of the island, 15 kilometers away. Pukao was portrayed, of course.

Have you always wondered if there moai petroglyphs, they are covered and platforms ahu carving? Happens! On the idols in Anaken, there are peculiar clothes, reminiscent of God knows what, and the platform is decorated with carved images of people:

Organized on the principle of a corporate string, people resemble fish strung on a rope. But in our case, these fish are still alive. Not only that, under the influence of oral and anal wow factors, they seem to be crawling along the corporate string in a direction that seems to them to be on top. To do this, they are driven by instinct or, if you like, the desire for the meaning of life:

southeast shore

All standing moai and whole ahu restored by archaeological expeditions in the 20th century. The usual state of the moai is fallen down, and the stones that made up ahu- randomly scattered. Such moai and ahu there are dozens, if not hundreds, on the island

Easter Island is the most remote inhabited piece of land in the world. Its area is only 165.6 square kilometers. Belongs to the island of Chile. But to the nearest mainland city of this country, Valparaiso, 3703 kilometers. And there are no other islands nearby, in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. The nearest inhabited land is located at 1819 kilometers. This is Pitcairn Island. It is known for the fact that the rebellious crew of the Bounty ship wished to stay on it. Lost in the vastness of Easter keeps many secrets. First, it is not clear where the first people came from. They could not explain anything to the Europeans about this. But the most mysterious riddles Easter Islands are its stone idols. They are installed along the entire coastline. The natives called them moai, but they could not clearly explain who they were. In this article, we have tried to summarize the results of all recent scientific discoveries in order to unravel the mysteries that have enveloped the most remote land area from civilization.

History of Easter Island

On April 5, 1722, the sailors of a squadron of three ships under the command Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeven saw land on the horizon that had not yet been marked on the map. When they approached east coast islands, they saw that it was inhabited. Natives sailed to them, and their ethnic composition hit the Dutch. Among them were Caucasians, Negroids and representatives of the Polynesian race. The Dutch were immediately struck by the primitive technical equipment of the islanders. Their boats were riveted from bits of wood and so let the water through that half of the people in the canoe bailed it out, while the rest rowed. The landscape of the island was more than bleak. Not a single tree towered on it - only rare bushes. Roggeven wrote in his diary: "The desolated appearance of the island and the exhaustion of the natives suggest the barrenness of the land and extreme poverty." But most of all, the captain was shocked by the stone idols. How, with such a primitive civilization and scarce resources, did the natives have the strength to carve out of stone and deliver so many heavy statues to the shore? The captain had no answer to that question. Since the island was discovered on the day of the Resurrection of Christ, it received the name Easter. But the natives themselves called it Rapa Nui.

Where did the first inhabitants of Easter Island come from?

This is the first riddle. Now more than five thousand people live on the island with a length of 24 kilometers. But when the first Europeans landed on the shore, there were much fewer natives. And in 1774, the navigator Cook counted only seven hundred islanders on the island, emaciated from hunger. But at the same time, among the natives there were representatives of all three human races. Many theories have been put forward about the origin of the population of Rapa Nui: Egyptian, Mesoamerican and even completely mythical, that the islanders are survivors of the collapse of Atlantis. But modern DNA analysis shows that the first Rapanui landed around the year 400 and most likely came from East Polynesia. This is evidenced by their language, which is close to the dialects of the inhabitants of the Marquesas and Hawaiian Islands.

The rise and fall of civilization

The first thing that caught the eye of the discoverers were the stone idols of Easter Island. But the earliest sculpture dates back to 1250, and the latest (unfinished, left in the quarry) - to 1500. It is unclear how the civilization of the natives developed from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries. Perhaps, at a certain stage, the islanders moved from a tribal society to clan military unions. Legends (very contradictory and fragmentary) tell of the leader Hotu Matu'a, who was the first to set foot on Rapa Nui and brought all the inhabitants with him. He had six sons who divided the island after his death. Thus, the clans began to have their ancestor, whose statue they tried to make larger, more massive and more representative than that of the neighboring tribe. But what caused the Rapa Nui people to stop carving and erecting their monuments in the early sixteenth century? This has only been discovered by modern research. And this story can be instructive for all mankind.

Ecological catastrophe on a small scale

Let's leave aside the idols of Easter Island for now. They were carved by the distant ancestors of those wild natives who were caught by the expeditions of Roggeven and Cook. But what influenced the decline of the once rich civilization? After all, the ancient Rapa Nuans even had a written language. By the way, the texts of the found tablets have not yet been deciphered. Scientists have only recently given an answer to what happened to this civilization. Her death was not quick due to a volcanic eruption, as Cook assumed. She agonized for centuries. Modern research layers of soil showed that the island was once covered with lush vegetation. The forests abounded with game. The ancient Rapa Nui were engaged in agriculture, growing yams, taro, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and bananas. They went out to sea in good boats made from the hollowed out trunk of a palm tree and hunted dolphins. The fact that the ancient islanders ate well is indicated by DNA analysis of food found on pottery shards. And this idyll was destroyed by the people themselves. Forests were gradually cut down. The islanders were left without their fleet, and consequently, without the meat of ocean fish and dolphins. They have already eaten all the animals and birds. The only food of the Rapa Nui people was crabs and shellfish, which they collected in shallow water.

Easter Island: moai statues

The natives could not really say anything about how they were made and, most importantly, how stone idols weighing several tons were brought to the shore. They called them "moai" and believed that they contained "mana" - the spirit of the ancestors of a certain clan. The more idols, the stronger the concentration of supernatural power. And this leads to the prosperity of the clan. So when the French removed one of Easter Island's moai statues in 1875 to take it to a Paris museum, the Rapa Nui had to be held back with guns. But, as studies have shown, about 55% of all idols were not transported to special platforms - "ahu", but remained standing (many in the primary processing stage) in a quarry on the slope of the Rano Raraku volcano.

Art style

In total, there are more than 900 sculptures on the island. They are classified by scholars chronologically and by style. The early period is characterized stone heads without a torso, with a face turned upwards, as well as pillars, where the torso is made in a very stylized way. But there are exceptions. So, a very realistic figure of a kneeling moai was found. But she remained standing in the ancient quarry. In the Middle Age, the idols of Easter Island became giants. Most likely, the clans competed with each other, trying to show that their mana is more powerful. Artistic decoration in the Middle period is more sophisticated. The bodies of the idols are covered with carvings depicting clothes and wings, and huge cylindrical hats of red tuff are often hoisted on the head of the moai.

Transportation

No less a mystery than the idols of Easter Island remained the secret of their transfer to the "ahu" platforms. The natives claimed that the moai themselves came there. The truth turned out to be more prosaic. In the lowest (more ancient) soil layers, scientists have found the remains of an endemic tree that is related to the wine palm. It grew up to 26 meters, and its smooth trunks without branches reached a diameter of 1.8 m. The tree served as an excellent material for rolling sculptures from the quarries to the shore, where they were installed on platforms. To erect idols, ropes were used, which were woven from the bast of the hauha tree. The environmental catastrophe also explains the fact why more than half of the sculptures are “stuck” in quarries.

Short-eared and long-eared

Modern residents of Rapa Nui no longer have religious reverence for moai, but consider them theirs. cultural heritage. In the mid-50s of the last century, the researcher uncovered the secret of who created the idols of Easter Island. He noticed that Rapa Nui is inhabited by two types of tribes. In one, the earlobes were lengthened from childhood by wearing heavy jewelry. The leader of this clan, Pedro Atana, told Thor Heirdal that in their family, the ancestors passed on to their descendants the art of creating the status of moai and transporting them by drag to the installation site. This craft was kept secret from the "short-eared" and was passed down orally. At the request of Heyerdahl, Athan, with numerous assistants from his clan, carved a 12-ton statue into a quarry and delivered it upright to the platform.