Van Tilburg concludes, "The moai thus mediates between sky and earth, people and chiefs, and chiefs and gods." The word "ahu" has two meanings in Easter Island culture. First, an ahu is the flat ...

About one mile east of Rano Raraku volcano is Ahu Tongariki, the largest ahu complex on Easter Island with 15 moai statues. We first saw it from above while walking through Rano Raraku.

Among the many secrets buried in Easter Island prehistory is the question of how the Rapanui people transported the multi-ton statues, or moai, from their quarries to their final ceremonial ahu ...

Platforms are called ahu, and the statues that sit on them, moai (pronounced mo-eye). As our jeep negotiated a rutted dirt road, the seven moai loomed into view. Their faces were paternal ...

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 ...

Perhaps its most iconic location is the newly restored Ahu Tongariki, where 15 moai are positioned on a 200-foot-long (60 m) ceremonial platform. The eclipse will take place 67 degrees up in the ...

"On a crisp September morning, I rushed out to Ahu Tongariki near Rano Raraku in order to see the sun rise over the 15 moai." Jon Canfield Easter Island Moai. Courtesy of Flickr user Ndecam.

Het hoge culturele niveau is zichtbaar in monumentale stenen figuren (moai) en ceremoniële heiligdommen (ahu) die ze van de 10e tot de 16e eeuw bouwden en oprichtten. Daarnaast kende het volk een ...