The last mystery of Easter Island

The last mystery of Easter Island: where did all the inhabitants disappear — Easter Island is one of the most isolated places in the world. A piece of land with an area of ​​164 square kilometers and the mainland are separated by 3.5 thousand kilometers, and the nearest inhabited island of Pitcairn is located 2075 kilometers from the island. The Dutch seafarers who discovered the island in 1722 found people on it who were at the stage of the Stone Age in terms of technical development, and hundreds of huge statues, over the origin and purpose of which more than one generation of scientists was puzzled. We decided to figure out why the construction of stone giants stopped and where the indigenous inhabitants of the island disappeared.

Easter island discovery

The secret to Easter Island

There are a total of 887 statues scattered throughout the island. Their height varies from 2 to 22 meters, and moai head weigh from 20 to 80 tons. Most of the statues were carved in the quarries of the Rano Raraku volcano from large-block tachyllite basalt tuff or tuffite.

But several of the statues were made from other stones such as trachyte, red basalt pumice, basalt, and mujierite. 255 statues are placed on ahu's ceremonial and burial platforms. 45% of all moai (397 stone statues easter island) are concentrated in the area of ​​the Rano Raraku volcano, while some of them have not been completely cut down.

The mystery of Easter island

Etone statue island

Easter island statues mystery

Easter island statues meaning? what are the easter island statues? It is believed that for the Rapanui, the statues personified the gods, on whom the weather and harvest depended. Next to the idols, they burned fires and arranged dances to appease their patrons.

Easter island heads location

Easter island heads dug up

How many easter island heads are there?

There are a total of 887 statues scattered throughout the island.

The construction of idols affected the forest resources of the island. The movement of the statues with stones, ropes and logs and the ritual bonfires next to them led to the deforestation of the island. No one was involved in planting new trees. When the timber reserves were finally depleted, famine began on the island. War broke out between the "long-eared" settlers from Peru and the "short-eared" Polynesians. The easter island giants were thrown from their pedestals, no longer believing in their power. It is believed that cannibalism began to develop on the island due to resource constraints.

Rapa Nui Statues

Etone faces Easter island

Easter island statues mystery

The process of self-destruction of the once isolated ecosystem and its indigenous inhabitants was aggravated by seafarers. After the discovery by the Dutch, the island turned into a place of pilgrimage for sailors who dreamed of seeing "primitive" people and giant stone statues with their own eyes. For the island and its inhabitants, contact with civilization has become no less destructive than internecine wars.

Easter island rock

Mysteries of Easter island

The isolated ecosystem has become a place of pilgrimage for sailors.

The sailors brought with them diseases previously unknown to the islanders and objects unseen for them. The rats that landed on the island together with the sailors destroyed the last seeds of the palm trees. In the 19th century, many Rapanui were taken into slavery. As a result, the already small population of the island by 1877 was reduced to 111 people.

Easter island stone heads

Mystery of Easter island

When were the easter island statues built? 

The initial settlement of Easter Island is about 300 to 1200 CE

Mysterious statues

Easter island statues mystery

The last Rapunians took the secret of making and moving giant statues with them. Despite the numerous experiments of scientists and archaeologists, they did not manage to come close to solving the mystery of how a bunch of aborigines with primitive tools could move statues weighing several tens of tons around the island and put stone caps weighing a couple of tons on their heads.

Source — Livejournal.com | Dnpmag