Five hundred years ago, on the southern slopes of Easter Island's Rano Raraku volcano, the Rapa Nui people skillfully carved ...

At the famous quarry of Rano Raraku, about 95% of the statues were carved from soft volcanic tuff. Each Moai statue is unique, showing the person it honors. They were seen as symbols of important ...

The moai were carved with stone tools, mostly in a single quarry, then transported without draft animals or wheels to massive stone platforms, or ahu, up to 11 miles away. Tuki’s question—how ...

We will pretend that the moai came from the top of the quarry, above a cliff that drops down hundreds of feet. The easiest way to get the moai down may have been to lower it down the quarry cliff.

Total number of maoi that were successfully transported to their final ahu locations: 288 (32% of 887) Total number of moai still in the Rano Raraku quarry: 397 (45%) Total number of moai lying ...