Easter Island

Easter Island lies some 2,000 miles west off the coast of Chile. It is best known for its moai, more than 600 huge figures sculpted from volcanic-rock and has long been the subject of curiosity and speculation. How and why did its inhabitants carve and transport the massive statues which surround the island? What remains of this culture today, and what lessons can we learn from their legacy? 

Easter Island is one of the most isolated and mysterious places on Earth. A triangle of volcanic rock in the South Pacific, it was named by Admiral Roggeveen, who discovered the island on Easter Day in 1722. Today, the land, people and language are all referred to locally as Rapa Nui.

It has been proposed that the people who built the statues were of Peruvian descent, due to a similarity between Rapa Nui and Incan stonework. Some have suggested that Easter Island is the remnant of a lost continent, or the result of an extra-terrestrial influence. Archaeological evidence, however, indicates discovery of the island by Polynesians at about 400 AD.  Upon their arrival, an impressive and enigmatic culture began to develop.

Easter Island is also home to many petroglyphs (rock carvings), as well as traditional wood carvings, tapa (bark cloth) crafts, tattooing, string figures, dance and music.