Easter Island

Easter Island is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania [1]. The first recorded European contact with the island was on April 5, 1722, Easter Sunday [1]. Easter Island is a volcanic island, consisting mainly of three extinct coalesced volcanoes: Terevaka forms the bulk of the island, while two other volcanoes, Poike and Rano Kau, form the eastern and southern headlands and give the island its roughly triangular shape [1]. Almost all moai were carved from compressed, easily worked solidified volcanic ash or tuff, found at a single site on the side of the extinct volcano Rano Raraku [1]. The native islanders who carved them used only stone hand chisels, mainly basalt toki, which lie in place all over the quarry [1]. Of the 313 known ahu, 125 carried moai – usually just one, probably because of the shortness of the moai period and transportation difficulties [1]. Ahu Tongariki, one km from Rano Raraku, had the most and tallest moai, 15 in total [1].