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 INDEX
1. The Moai | 2. Location of Easter Island | 3. Ancient Astronauts? | 4. Who | 5. When | 6. Locations on Island | 7. How Were They Made | 8. How Were They Moved | 9. Toppling Them | 10. The Scary Part | 11. Restoration | 12. Photos | 13. Links | 14. References
The Moai
Some of the most incredible ancient relics ever discovered are the 800 to 1,000 stone statues found on Easter Island. The average
"Moai" is thirteen feet tall and weighs fourteen tons, but some are as large
as thirty-three feet and weigh over 80 tons. One unfinished Moai, still in it's
bedrock quarry was 65 feet long and would have weighed an estimated
270 tons.
Location of Easter Island
Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is one of the most remote places on Earth, discovered in modern times by explorer Jacob Roggeveen on Easter day, April 5, 1722. It is located 2200 miles west of Chile in the South Pacific Ocean, at 27°06' S Latitude, 109°20' W Longitude. The island  itself is 63 square miles and has extinct volcanoes which rise to 1500 feet.
Some claim this ancient site lies on a line around the globe that connects the Great Pyramids, Machupicchu, and other sites of ancient mystery. 1
Ancient Astronauts?
I first got excited about Easter Island by watching "In Search of," a TV show hosted by Leonard Nimoy (Spock from Star Trek). The show dealt with mysteries and it had freaky scary music. "In Search of Ancient Astronauts..." freaked me out as a kid. I probably wouldn't have this freaky site now if it wasn't for that freaky show freaking me out. Luckily, today we can check things out on the net to see what others say. Read the arguments on the Skeptic's Dictionary about Erich von Däniken, for example.
Who Made the Moai?
A few theories about the statue makers: A. They were extinct race now vanished from the Earth. B. The original settlers were hardy  Polynesians who came from either the Marquesas Islands or from Mangareva around AD 400-600. 2 This theory is the most accepted since "modern DNA testing has proved without a doubt that the indigenous population and all skeletons found on the island are of Polynesian origin." 5 C. Another reasonable possibility, however, is that Easter Island was settled from Chile. In fact, April 2000, it took adventurer Phil Buck forty-four days to reach Easter Island after setting out from Arica, Chile, in a boat made of reeds. 6 D. Aliens came down, made them, and left, just as von Däniken guessed.
When Were The Moai Made?
One site claims that most of the Moai were sculpted between 1000 and 1500 AD. 4 Another says "archaeologists believe they were carved, transported, and erected between AD 1400 and 1600." 25
Moai Locations on Easter Island
How Were They Made?
"Excavations at the quarry have turned up convincing evidence of the carving process, including broken and discarded tools made of the much harder local basalt. Once the moai were almost completed they were cut free and placed upright where finishing touches were put on them." 7 "Typically, the moai were carved out of volcanic ash, using hand picks of a teardrop design." 31
How Were They Moved?
According to one site, "Depending upon the size of the statue, between 50 and 150 people were needed to drag it across the countryside on sleds and rollers made from the island's trees." 3  A Czech engineer named Pavel Pavel around 1990
with the help of friends cast a 15 foot tall concrete statue weighing 13 tons (
26,455.47 lbs.)
"In the South Bohemian town of Strakonice, they conducted a trial. They fastened ropes around the top of the head as well as around the base of the bust and through a system of tilting and twisting Mr Pavel and sixteen other people were able to move the statue forward." The statue thus wriggled forward as if "walking" and only 17 people were needed to transport it. "Thor Heyerdahl invited Pavel Pavel to join the KonTiki Museum expedition to Easter Island in January 1986 to try out his experiments on an original statue. It worked well and the mystery was solved..." 25 This method fits with the ledgends that the statues once walked.
Oh Yeah, Take That!
During the mid 1700s rival clans on the Island began to topple each other's stone statues. By 1864 a visitor noted in his journal that not a single Moai remained standing. 3 | 4
The Scary Part
Lee Krystek of the unmuseum tells us why the truth may be more frightening than anything involving aliens. Archaeologists have traced the history of the Island by examining ancient trash heaps and by carbon dating pollen grains. From this work, we know the following.
"When the first Polynesians landed on Easter Island, around 400 to 700 A.D., what they found was far from a barren land. The Island was a sub-tropical paradise. ... With conditions so fine on Easter the human population quickly swelled. Estimates of population range up to 20,000 at its peak.
[ The statues ] were probably erected by rival clans, each one wanting to have the largest and most numerous statues as a sign of status and wealth.
In their hunger for status symbols, the natives cut down all the
palm trees
on the Island for use in contsructing statues. Then, with no more trees, they could no longer make boats to fish, so they turned to eating seabirds. When they'd consumed the birds, they ate rats. Finally, with all the rats gone, "starvation resulted, the government collapsed and cannibalism appeared. Human bones started to find their way into trash pits."
When the island was discovered, there were only a few humans and domesticated chickens. The Island was barren, with nothing larger than insects. "It is quite possible to wreck a closed ecological system by overusing it's resources. It happened on Easter Island and it could happen to our own planet Earth. What is scarier than Aliens? The fact that we may really be on our own, that we must save ourselves from own unquenchable parasitic human greed.
Restoration
Then again, even if we trash the Earth, a few might survive and try rebuild. The Moai Statue Restoration Project began in 1988 when the governor of the Island began looking for a crane. "just one crane to restore the moai statues to  their upright position."
A company called "Tadano quickly volunteered its services-along with a TR-500EX crane (50 ton lifting capacity). By May 1995, all 15 of the moai statues were standing tall once again in Tongariki ahu, just as they had for centuries. The TR-500EX stayed behind on Easter Island as a gift from TADANO." 4
Today you can visit the Island and take tours.
Best Easter Island Pictures On the Net
References
1. http://www.raingod.com/ (photos)
2. http://members.aol.com/lvancourt/
3. http://www.encyclopedia.com/articlesnew/03914.html
4. http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~ito-nori/e11.htm
5. http://www.mysteriousplaces.com/Easter_Island/
6. http://www.islandheritage.org/pg/tfotos.html (photos)
7. http://www.worldisround.com/articles/1301/photo1.html (photos)
8. http://euros.gso.uri.edu/snow/easter.html(photos)
9. http://www.karllung.com/easter_island/imagetable.html (photos)
10. http://www.saddleback.cc.ca.us/div/mse/geo/Easter/ (photos)
11. http://www.galen-frysinger.org/rapa_nui.htm (photos)
12. MANY MORE ON GOOGLE
13. http://home.hiwaay.net/~jalison/second.html
14. http://www.nimoy.com/tvcredits.html
15. http://www.google.com/search?q="In+Search+of+Ancient+Astronauts"
16. http://skepdic.com/vondanik.html
17. http://islandheritage.org/eihistory.html
18. http://members.madasafish.com/~scroll/satrip/chap9.htm
19. http://www.islandheritage.org/eilinks.html
20. http://scsc.essortment.com/easterisland_reqn.htm
21. http://www.bu.edu/jgfox/moai.html
22. http://www.abavagada.com/culture/cultflea.htm
23. http://www.tadanoamerica.com/html/index.htm
24. http://www.tadano.co.jp/ihq/info/p7.htm
25. http://www.radio.cz/en/article/35755
26. http://www.google.com/search?q=Thor+Heyerdahl+Easter+Island
27. http://www.google.com/search?q=Pavel+Pavel+Easter+Island
28. http://www.unmuseum.org/easteri.htm
29. http://www.3dphoto.net/stereo/world/latin_america/chile/easter/easter.html (great photos)
30. http://www.easterislandhotel.com/tours.htm
31. http://www.apj.co.uk/rapanui/display_article.asp?specifier=history
32. http://www.google.com/search?q=Jacob+Roggeveen+Easter+Island
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