RAPA NUI - (PART III) - RANO RARAKU

MOAI SUPERMARKET - SEPTEMBER 2004


Like Thor Heyerdahl wrote «Rano Raraku remains one of the greatest and most curious monuments of mankind, a monument to the great lost unknown behind us...». There you may find at least three hundred ninety four moai that are in all stages of carving. A true moai supermarket...



"THE QUARRY - It was from this hill at Rano Raruku that all moai were carved. A path leads through the hundreds of moai"


"VIEW from Rano Raruku towards Ahu Tongariki, Poike Peninsula and the sea"




"TUTURI, the kneeling moai, was excavated by Thor Heyerdahl. Though very rare, it is not unique. This is the traditional pose for those giving an oral recitation or song"


"CARVED - First stage, carving on the rock"






"MOAI standing below their quarry sites waiting to be either finished or transported. Some others were abandoned haphazardly"

"EL GIGANTE - The largest statue carved is twenty meter long, but was not separated from rock..."


"CRATER - Fresh water lake at the Rano Raraku crater"


"MOAI SOUVENIR after lunch: chicken, rice and banana"




"AHU TONGARIKI - With its fifteen statues, Ahu Tongariki is the largest on the island, and certainly one of the most impressive. It was destroyed in 1960 by a tsunami that threw the moai more than 100 meters inland from their ahu, despite weighing several tons each. The site was reconstructed in recent years"


"AHU TE PITO TE KURA - MOAI - This is the biggest moai ever erected on an Ahu: ten meters high, with two meters long ears. According to some archaeologists, it was the last moai to be brought down"


"AHU TE PITO TE KURA - STONE - The name of the Ahu derives from this round and polished stone and means the navel of the world. According to the legend, it was Hotu Matua, first king of the Island that brought the stone with him in a canoe from Hiva. It's true that a compass seems disturbed when near the stone that probably has some magnetic field around..."


"AHU NAU NAU stands at Anakena and was restored in 1978. Unfortunately, it was raining cats and dogs, so this is the only photo taken..."