An Easter Island boat house taken with a lightweight pole cam. Image courtesy of Aerial-Cam
Moai Statues
The most prominent archaeological features of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) are the colossal stone statues (moai) dating to c. AD 1000 to AD 1600 that stood on stone ceremonial platforms (ahu) positioned around the coastline of the island. The project aims to develop new interpretations on the organisation and meaning of these monumental construction activities and to unify the hitherto isolated research foci – of statue quarries, statue transport roads, and ahu, into an integrated island-wide programme of landscape study, survey and excavation.
The project webpage explains that on some ahu, the heads of the moai were adorned with cylinder-shaped topknots (pukao). The vast majority of moai were sculpted from volcanic tuff quarried from the inner and outer crater of Rano Raraku, situated in the south-east of the island. Conversely, the pukao are exclusively of red scoria from a quarry in the crater of Puna Pau, situated in the southwest of the island. For example, the construction of ahu with moai and pukao effectively fused production at both quarries together in terms of spatial, temporal and social relationships. However, up until now attention has almost entirely been focussed on the moai quarry at Rano Raraku. This is the only quarry to have seen any form of excavation or detailed archaeological survey, and consequently, it is the only quarry for which there are C14 dates. Therefore there exists a discrepancy in the amount of attention different quarries have received.
Roads or Routes
A further part of the investigations involves the ‘transportation roads’. Previous research has focussed on those at Rano Raraku and its immediate environs, and as the name suggests they have been examined solely in terms of their assumed primary role in movement of moai. However, the team are also concerned with their role in channelling people towards the Rano Raraku quarry along a formal route where fallen statues now testify to roads once lined by erect moai.
Numerous ahu with fallen moai are positioned along the coastline all around the island. Their position in relation to the topography, their relationship to occupation and practices and their material composition all form part of the enquiry.
In 2009 archaeological photographer Adam Stanford of Aerial-cam joined the project. The photographs in this article are courtesy of Aerial-cam.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/rapanuiProject Publications:
Richards, C. 2008. The substance of Polynesian voyaging. World Archaeology 40 (2): 206-23.
Hamilton, S., S. Nahoe A., C. Richards & F. Torres H. 2008. Quarried away: thinking about landscapes of megalithic construction on Rapa Nui, in B. David & J. Thomas (eds) Handbook of landscape archaeology. Walnut Creek Ca: Left Coast Press, pp. 176-86.
Participants – Easter Island Landscapes of Construction Project:
Sue Hamilton (University College London, UK)
Susana Nahoe A. (CONAF, Rapa Nui)
Colin Richards (University of Manchester, UK)
Francisco Torres H. (Museo Antropologico P. Sebastian Englert, Rapa Nui)
In collaboration with:
Ken Cook (Hawaii Pacific University)
CONAF (Rapa Nui)
Claudio Cristino (Universidad de Santiago, Chile)
Patricia Vargas (Universidad de Santiago, Chile)
Kate Welham (Bournemouth University, UK)
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2011/easter-island-study-enters-new-phase