Wanderings: Moai at Ranu Raraku

June 1, 2024

Visiting any sites in Rapa Nui National Patk requires the accompaniment of a guide. The hotel offered a full day tour to the east side of the Island (1). Zoe was our guide; finding herself on the mainland as Covid hit, she headed for Australia, as Easter Island had closed its borders.

The first stop is at the ethnographic interpretation center for an overview of Rapa Nui life before the 1800s. House foundations (2) were made of volcanic stone, with very symmetrical circles dug into them to hold the branches and straw forming the roof. The entrances were quite small and low (3). One crawled in backwards, both to allow for defense from within, and because bad spirits cannot follow you when going backwards (4).

Narrow stone enclosures about 4 feet tall protected crops, typically slender banana trees and taro plants, from the winds coming off the sea. What looked like a rectangular pile of rocks was actually a chicken coop. Stones near the based would be opened in the morning to let the chickens out (5) and closed up again at night to protect the chickens from predation by the Island's large rats.

The next stop was at Ahu Akahanga. An Ahu is a platform on which the Island's iconic statues (called Moai, pronounced moe-eye) were erected. Moai were the repositories of the souls of men who had great Mana (spiritual power), and watched over the tribal villages and their descendents. The Moai were topped with top knots (6) made from distinctive red stone, accessible only at a secret location on the island. The eyes (where the soul resides) were made of white coral with obsidian pupils. Most of the Moai on the Island were toppled at some point in the mid 1700s (7) (8). These topplings represented not just physical destruction; pulling the Moai down and destroying the eyes also destroyed the ancestors' souls and any protection they had provided.

The highlight of today's trip is Ranu Raraku, the volcanic crater at which all of the tribes extracted and carved their Moai. The master at the location would select a suitable spot to begin a new Moai. The sides were cut, and the basic shape of the front was carved. The new Moai would then be slid down the mountain on stones, and placed upright for refinement of the front and carving of the back. When nearing completion, the Moai would be "walked" upright by a series of ropes (8). Once at the Ahu, the eyes would be added, the statue would gradually be raised (pull up a bit, insert stones, repeat many times), and the top knot attached. Fascinating place.

At Ahu Tongariki, 15 Moai stand vigil over the former village site. A tsunami in 1960 has washed over the Ahu. The moai were re-erected using modern cranes (9).

A magnetic stone rests by the sea at Ahu Te Pito Kura. The only magnetic stone on the island. Legend says it was brought over by Hatu Matu'a.

The final stop was at Anankena, the only sandy beach on the Island, the landing place of Hatu Matu'a, and the base camp for Thor Heyerdahl's archeological work on the island in the late 1950s (10). The Moai here have well-preseved long ears, which were stretched out by piercing and inserting large circular earrings. Large lobes were a status symbol back in the day. Some old men (who had the traditions passed down to them) demonstrated to Heyerdahl how the Moai were raised using traditional techniqes.

(1) Getting into the van, an English couple behind me (Niles and Michelle) asked if I had flown in yesterday and sat in row 12; I had. Michelle had sat in row 13, and recognized the back of my head. "Distinctive baldspot?" I enquired. "I wasn't going to say that, but yes" she replied.

(2) Houses were only used for sleeping. All other activities occurred outside.

(3) The entrances were reminiscent of traditional Swazi dwellings in Southern Africa, which also require the person entering to bow down low (although entering forward).

(4) Zoe's mother still asks her to enter their modern house backwards at times when the mother feels a spirit presence.

(5) "Feed a chicken for a few days and it will never leave you" Zoe said.

(6) Hats were not a thing in Rapa Nui society. The top knots represented the long hair men sported to show their wisdom and knowledge, tied up in a bun on top of heir heads. It is reported that some of the Rapanui had red hair, a sign of status.

(7) In 1722, the Dutch Admiral reported most of the Moai standing. By the time of Captsin Cook's visit in 1788, most of the Moai had been toppled.

(8) While no written records are available before about 1800, here is the generally-accepted outline of Rapa Nui history:

1400s? First colonization of the island by Polynesians.

1500s: King Hatu Matu'a arrives with a second wave of settlers.

1600s: Tribal warfare on the island.

1700s: Birdman period when peaceful means are used to settle who will control the Island's resources in the coming year.

Early 1800s: Raiders from Peru enslaved many of the Island's inhabitants to be guano (a) miners on islands off Peru. Estimates of the native population drop to just over 100 by the time of Chilean accession (b).

1888: Chilean sovereignty.

1903: The island is leased to the Scottish wool company Williams-Balfour for sheep farming. The native population is restricted to Hanga Roa, the only town on the island.

1953: Chile does not renew the Williams-Balfour lease.

1966: Rapanui are granted full Chilean citizenship.

1967: Airport opens for weekly commercial flights.

(a) The accumulated bird droppings were used as fertilizer.

(b) According to Zoe, our guide, only 7 tribes remain, one with only one current member. She worries about the lack of genetic diversity.

(8) As one might move a cumbersome refrigerator today.

(9) Zoe used the work "grua," which apparently is Australian for crane.

(10) The hotel I stayed at in Bolivia a few days had some old books, either as decorations or as a take-one/leave one library. Among the titles were books on South African gardening (2 copies), books published in the 1950s on the reformation in Europe, and, in a remarkable coincidence, Heyerdahl's book Aku-Aku (c) documenting his work on Easter Island. While some of his actions were ethically questionable even in the late 1950s (d), and Islanders still speak of him with respect.

(c) The name caught my attention because there was a restaurant near my boyhood home of the same name. The book featured an indented cover with the shape of a Moai.

(d) For example, Heyerdahl worked hard to convince the locals that the Aku-Aku (spirits) wanted him to take many artifacts away to a museum in Norway for safe-keeping (i).

(i) Heyerdahl's daughter, who was a little girl during the archeological expedition, has spent much time on the island and is working to restore many of the artifacts to Rapa Nui.