This is a picture of my husband, David, next to a top knot that once crowned a statue on Easter Island. To give some perspective, David is a bit over 6′ 1″.
It’s impossible not to wonder what happened here when looking at these fallen statues, known as moai (pronounced mow-eye). What wealth the people of this island, also called Rapa Nui, once had. They were able to free up enough workers from fishing and farming for generations to develop a class of artisans with the skill to make these statues. Some moai stand more than a dozen feet tall. And, there are hundreds of them. The people on this island once had ample resources to devote to worshipping ancestors, which is what these statues represent. The people of Rapa Nui seem to have worn out the island’s trees with their mania for moai, likely using up their forests to roll the statues into place.
When Europeans arrived in the 18th century, they found a civilization reduced to hunter-gatherer status. Rapa Nui had been plundered of its treasures. Museums far across the oceans now have its rongo rongo tablets, which are written in a language developed on Rapa Nui, as well as the island’s fine carvings and even some moai. While many of the statues on the island have been restored, others are in heartbreaking shape. Tossed from their platforms by storms or toppled in wars, some still rest face down with broken necks.
