What is the difference between an ahu and moai?
Rapa Nui’s ahu (shrines) vary in size and form. There are at least 360 on the island. “Image ahu” are those with statues (moai). Moai are found in nearly all localities around the island, although the greater number are in proximity to the main quarry, Rano Raraku, located on the south coast.
What was the purpose of the ahu on Easter Island?
Function and characteristics of the ahu The ahu were sacred places dedicated to ancestor worship. Each lineage had its ceremonial center in a sector near the coast, from which it controlled a part of the territory towards the interior of the island.
What moai means?
statue
Moai /ˈmoʊ. aɪ/ ( listen) or moʻai (Spanish: moái, Rapa Nui: moʻai, meaning “statue” in Rapa Nui) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500.
How were the moai moved to the Ahu?
Even specialized priests were known to move moai at the request of those who wanted them on their family land or ahu. Method: Tied statue on its back to a sledge (sled) made from a tree fork. 180 islanders pulled the statue using two parallel ropes tied to each side.
What are the Moai made of?
Most moai are made of tuff. Tuff is a soft volcanic rock native to Easter Island. (A few moai were carved from basalt and scoria, other volcanic rocks.) Because tuff erodes easily, few of the moai’s original designs remain.
How many moai are on the largest ahu?
Ahu Tongariki is the largest Moai site of Easter Island. It has 15 moai lined up and includes the largest moai ever erected on the island (you can guess which one) weighing in at over 86 tonnes.
What is considered remarkable about the location of the moai statues?
The statues on their platforms can be found ringing almost the entire coast of the island. Remarkably, despite their seaside location, every single one of the moai appears to face inland and not out to sea, suggesting that they were meant to honour people or deities located within Rapa Nui itself.
Where are the moai?
Easter Island
The Easter Island heads are known as Moai by the Rapa Nui people who carved the figures in the tropical South Pacific directly west of Chile. The Moai monoliths, carved from stone found on the island, are between 1,100 and 1,500 CE.
What are the moai made of?
How were the moai created?
Using basalt stone picks, the Easter Island Moai were carved from the solidified volcanic ash of Rano Raraku volcano. They are all monolithic the carvings are created in one piece and an average weight of 20 tons and measuring 20 feet tall or more.
Why was moai built?
Moai statues were built to honor chieftain or other important people who had passed away. They were placed on rectangular stone platforms called ahu, which are tombs for the people that the statues represented.
