Moai lithologies: tuff dominates, 13 basalt statues remain a carving puzzle

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Key facts

• About 95% of the island's statues are made of volcanic tuff, which is relatively easy to work.
• 17 small statues are made of red scoria quarried from the Puna Pau volcano crater and 22 statues from slightly more durable volcanic trachyte; the remaining 13 special statues are carved from basalt.
• Hoa Hakananai'a, now in the British Museum, is considered one of the earliest basalt statues, carved before the standard moai form was established; Europeans called it the 'king of tuna fishermen'.
• The islanders had no metal tools; the official account is that statues were chipped out through millions of precise strikes using obsidian or basalt cobbles, with a single statue requiring years or decades of continuous labour by skilled craftsmen.
• Basalt statues range from 1.5 to 2.5 m tall versus up to 10 m for some tuff statues, so basalt was markedly harder to process and transport.
• No real moai has been found in the ocean; one small statue was discovered in the lake inside the Rano Raraku crater.
• Prop moai made for the 1994 film Rapa Nui were sunk after filming and now form a diving site.

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