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Ahu (ceremonial platforms)
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There are about 300 Ahu on the island with 800 Moai that have been excavated and 500 more still to be done.
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The Ahu were used and evolved over a period of over 1000 years, they were built, modified, fell into disrepair, rebuilt etc often going through three or more phases with the eroded Moai from a previous age being incorporated into the walls of the new Ahu.
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The Ahu is more than just a platform on which Moai are mounted, it is part of a vast ceremonial complex attached to each village where they could perform their rituals, honour their ancestors and express their culture.
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The elements that make up the Ahu are:-
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A) A high platform upon which the moai rest. Some terraces are as high as 15 feet above ground level. They vary in length from anything from a few feet and holding a single moai to 300ft. Often erected on top of a natural rock out crop to provide a natural foundation side walls of erect slabs and dressed stone were used to enclose a rubble core. In general the taller the Moai the lower the platform.
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On the platform a base for each moai measuring as much as 10 feet long by 8 or 9 feet wide was placed. The surface of the base sloped slightly down towards the back.
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Statue representing ancestors cut in the early years from stone local to the village and later from volcanic tuff from the Rano Raraku quarry.
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Top knot or head-dress of red scoria from the Puna Pau quarry.
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Lower than the central platform and extending from the sides of it. A rear and side walls of erect slabs define its edges and paved with round stones. Waste material from the ramps used to erect the moai into position on the ahu was used to for their construction.
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Joining the platform and wings with a plaza is an inclined ramp that is paved with rounded sea stones.
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A meeting place and ceremonial site extending in front of the ramp and up to the islanders houses. Some plazas also contained a ring of stones known as a paina where particular rituals were performed.
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Usually situated between the back of the platform and the sea, crematoria were rectangular structures used to deposit the ashes of cremated ancestors.
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Abutting up to the rear of the platform wall are sometimes found Funerary Cists that contained the skeletons of bodies that have been dried in the sun.
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Although not part of the Ahu, a canoe ramp, walled and paved with stones, is sometimes joined to it.
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In front of the plaza and facing the Moai the boat shaped houses (Hare Paenge)of the chiefs and priests would be found.
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In later periods some ahu were used to construct burial mounds.
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In modern times some ahu have been robbed out to construct field walls and farm buildings.
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For the most part the ahus were built as close to the sea as possible - so much so that in many cases massive earth and stone works where needed to stop the moai from tumbling into the waves. Some archaeologist feel that the relationship to the sea was significance in the placement of the moai otherwise you would expect to find them at any orientation,
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About 20% of sites have been excavated and reconstructed. The aim now is to measure and interpret the remaining sites without further excavation.
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Some of the reconstructions are not now thought to be very accurate with moai from nearby sites place on the ahu and moai being given the wrong top knots.
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Ahu Akahanga, is one of the most important prehistoric socio-political centres of the SE coast of Rapa Nui, with one long stone platform and four fallen moais. According to legend the site is the tomb of the islandb
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The remains of a village with the foundations of several boat-shaped houses is on a hillside nearby.
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Ahu Akahanga has been through at least three developments, the first is very ancient and the other two from 13th century onwards. An unusual feature of the site is that three of the Moai have been toppled backwards, face up rather than the usual face down.
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A separate moai lies near by but the fact that it has no eyes shows that it was abandoned before being raised.
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Ahu Akivi is an unusual site in several respects. A low 300 feet ahu (the longest on the island) supports 7 statues all very similar in height and style are aligned to the setting sun. The site is odd in that it is located far inland and the statues were erected to face the ocean. The only site where this was done.
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Ahu Akivi is a sanctuary and celestial observatory built between 1440 and 1500 AD. Like other Easter Island sites the statues were found knocked off the ahu, lying face down in the ground. These were the subject of the first serious restoration in 1960 undertaken on Easter Island by archaeologists William Mulloy and Gonzalo Figueroa. As in the case of many religious structures on Easter Island, it has been situated with astronomical precision: it's seven statues look towards the point where the sun sets during the equinox. It is also aligned to the moon.
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The fact that 7 Moais found there are turned toward the sea; is just the outcome of the Ahu, over looking the very large village, now in ruins, and to protect the ceremonial area and the village. It is just a coincidence that the see is in their view.
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During the excavation and restoration of this site structures such as crematoria and funerary cists. were uncovered behind the ahu. The pits contained fragments of bone, shells, fishing implements, and obsidian flakes. Whether sites like these were used regularly for cremations and or burials is not certain. At other sites skeletons have been found buried within the ahu structure, but these burials are believed to have occurred after the statues were toppled.
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Ahu Huki stands on the side of the hill overlooking the beach.
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Hanga Tee is where the first King of the island, Ariki Hotu Matu'a, supposed was buried. A 12m moai lies in four pieces by a low ahu. As the eyes have not been opened it would seem that it was probably broken whilst being erected.
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In the centre of the island is Ahu Huri A Urenga, where a solitary moai still stands; it was once a solstice observatory.
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Part of the Ahu Tahia site. A large solitary moai supports a massive maroon topknot. It is the only moai on the island to have its gleaming white coral eyes restored.
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Ahu Naunau, with its row of statues with topknots, is found near Anakena, the beach of the traditional landing of the original Rapanui. The site was restored by Sergio Rapu in 1978 and has some of the finest and best preserved moai.
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During excavations in 1979 over 200 skeletons were found. The site had been heavily covered by sand. Polynesian rat bones were also found.
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It was here that the only coral eye so far found was unearthed during the excavations.
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Situated near the town of Hanga Roa, the ahu at Tahai sits near a canoe ramp made of rounded beach stones, it is thought to be among the earliest ahu structures on the island, dating back to AD 690
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Tahai consists of three ahu, Ahu Tahai itself; Ahu Ko Te Riku and Ahu Vai Uri, as well as boathouse foundations, cave shelters, a boat ramp, and moai. The cluster of house foundations and other site remains located land-ward of the three ahu are indicative of the significant position the complex occupied in this section of the coast.
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Tahai provides a glimpse of what a ceremonial area must have been like in ancient times. Each ahu was used for a different type of ceremony; priests lived in the hare paenga houses, and rituals took place in the plaza area in front of the shrines.
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In addition to being one of the largest ahus (over 23,000 cubic metres of rock, earth and fill were used for the platform) it has some of the most personalised moai on the island. You can tell each one was meant to be an individual, the sizes and features of each of the five statues being drastically different.
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The statues were placed on a platform that was built directly at the edge of the ocean. When the tide is low you can walk behind and see the incredible workmanship that went into the platform. it's location on the western shore makes it perfect for sunset photos.
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It is probable that this ahu was never finished and now lies in ruins. The Moai nearby are smaller probably because of the extra effort that would have been needed to transport them to this spot and the eyes were never opened.
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Under the rubble of the toppled moai a house has been formed, it is suggested that this could have been people who did not want to give up the older cult and so wished to stay close by.
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From the 15th century onwards the site was used for burials.
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Ahu Tepeu is thought to be an old site that has been redeveloped over time
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At Ahu Tepeu is found the islandb
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Nearby are petroglyphs, caves, and two huge manavai (collapsed lava tubes where crops were grown).
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The largest moai ever moved now lay face down and broken, but its top knot appears to have been set up and an area around it cobbled, perhaps some people were trying to hang on to the older moai tradition as best they could or were developing a new cult which lost out to the birdmen
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Near by is Te Pito Kura - Naval of the World this is a large egg shaped stone about 3ft long. It is said to have been brought to the island on the canoe bringing the first settlers. It would have been used as moveable ballast to keep the canoes trimmed.
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Ahu Tongariki, on the south coast of Easter Island below Rano Raraku was the site of one of the largest of the ahu. The large flat plain below Rano Raraku provided easy access to the quarry and as a result the largest of the moai where erected here.
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Originally it contained around 30 statues, which were all overthrown at some stage before contact with the outside world. The statues lay in orderly rows for many years before being blasted apart in 1960 by a 32 ft tsunami (a massive tidal wave generated by an earthquake) from the coast of Chile which destroyed the platform, the largest on the island, and swept the 15 massive moai, some of which weigh 50 tons, 200m inland. The wave itself travelled about 1km inland to the base of Rano Raraku.
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In 1992 a team from Japan producing a promotional film for a crane company brought in their equipment to help restore Ahu Tongariki. Working under the direction of Chilean archaeologist, Claudio Cristino the task took five years. Now all of the moai stand proudly once more at what is arguably Easter Island's most impressive site.
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Near by are stunning petroglyphs of enormous tuna, turtles, and human and birdman figures.
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This was an area where divers would train to hold their breath to enable them to dive for the coral for the moai eyes.
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This is one of the most impressive sites on the south coast. Toppled in the wars, the statues now lie with their noses buried in the ground surrounded by scattered topknots.
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Part of the Ahu Tahia site
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If size signified importance, Ahu Vinapu was one of the most important ahu on Easter Island. The precisely fitted large basalt cut slabs have perplexed some archaeologists. Few experts disagree that the stonework here is more advanced than that of other ahu on the island. An average slab here is eight by 5.5 feet (2.5 x 1.7meters) and weighs seven tons. No withstanding, Ahu Vinapu is considered to be a fairly early site.
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Captain Cook's logs tell of up to 20 moai erected in this area, several remain buried around the ahu with only their faces visible. The remains of red scordia monuments have also been found on the site including a rare column-like monument whose carvings and meaning have eroded forever.
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Ahu Vinapu is not as spectacular as some of the other sites on Easter Island. There are no erected moai, no giant craters to peer into, and it's views include the airport fuel tanks.
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In 1886 William Thompson placed a charge of dynamite in the centre of the Vinapu.
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Before 9th century Moai were carved from the local stone, it was after this that it was taken from the quarry. The size of Moai is generally proportional to the prosperity of the people that erected it and the distance that it had to be moved.
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The moai and ahu were in use as early as AD 700, but the great majority were carved and erected between AD 1000 and 1500, mostly towards the later period. They generally stand with their backs to the sea and are believed by most archaeologists to represent the spirits of ancestors, chiefs, or other high-ranking males who held important positions in the history of Easter Island.
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In general moai form the upper part of a male body, standing upright and facing forward, with arms held tightly at the sides.
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Nearly all the moai are carved from volcanic tuff from the Rano Raraku volcano, though the moai at Otago Museum is made of trachyte, a dense, heavy, volcanic stone, from the lava domes on Poike in the east of the island - it's very hard to carve! It is quite a short moai at just under 2 metres tall including the pukao.
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Their purpose, it is believed, was to look out over a village or gravesite as a protector, though scholars are unable to definitively explain the function and use of the moai statues. It is assumed that their carving and erection derived from an idea rooted in similar practices found elsewhere in Polynesia but which evolved in a unique way on Easter Island. Archaeological and iconographic analysis indicates that the statue cult was based on an ideology of male, lineage-based authority incorporating anthropomorphic symbolism. The statues were thus symbols of authority and power, both religious and political. But they were not only symbols. To the people who erected and used them, they were actual repositories of sacred spirit. All carved objects in ancient Polynesian religions were, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, believed to be charged by a magical spiritual essence called mana. The ahu platforms of Easter Island were the sanctuaries of the people of Rapa Nui, and the moai statues were the ritually charged sacred objects of those sanctuaries. While the statues have been toppled and re-erected over the centuries, and while great social and environmental calamity afflicted the island, the mana or spiritual presence of Rapa Nui is still strongly present at the ahu sites and atop the sacred volcanoes.
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Comparisons with related historic cultures in Hawaii and other parts of Polynesia suggest that the moai were the focus of lineage ancestor worship and were commissioned by chiefs who competed for land and power over 500 years of Rapa Nui history. The ahu were the public centres of settlements where the people prayed to the moai as manifestations of powerful ancestor figures. As competition between local chieftains mounted, the moai became larger and more elaborate, stretching resources beyond recovery.
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The white of these eyes was fashioned from coral which needed to be brought up from the ocean depths by divers, while the iris was made from red volcanic rock or obsidian. Only a single original example of such an eye is known to exist, and it is now housed in the island's museum. Heartbreakingly, all the other eyes are thought to have been ground up into whitewash during a 1930s.
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From the sockets it is known that three types of moai eyes that have developed through the ages.
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Early explorers described and drew ahu with standing statues, but by the middle of the 1800s all the moai had been toppled in inter-clan conflicts. Today all ahu with standing moai are restorations.
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Older moai have human shaped ears more modern ones have elongated ears.
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Total number of moai on Easter Island: 887
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Total number of moai that were successfully transported to their final ahu locations: 288 (32% of 887)
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Total number of moai still in the Rano Raraku quarry: 397 (45%)
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Total number of moai lying 'in transit' outside of the Rano Raraku quarry: 92 (10%)
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Location: Rano Raraku Quarry, named "El Gigante"
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Height: 71.93 feet, (21.60 meters)
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Weight: approximately 145-165 tons (160-182 metric tons)
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Location: Ahu Te Pito Kura, Named "Paro"
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Height: 32.63 feet (9.80 meters)
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Weight: approximately 82 tons (74.39 metric tons)
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Largest moai fallen while being erected:
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Location: Ahu Hanga Te Tenga
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Height: 33.10 feet (9.94 meters)
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Height: 3.76 feet (1.13 meters)
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In all probably 6,500 moai were carved but over time the earlier ones eroded, these were often then used in the construction of the ahu platform. Up to 5 different levels of development are found on ahu.
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The surface of Moai has eroded by up to 3 inches over the years, loosing the original crisp lines.
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From the abundant evidence from excavations at the quarry at Rano Raraku the moai construction process is fairly well understood, having turned up convincing evidence, including broken and discarded tools made of the much harder local basalt and obsidian stone.
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The statues where hewn out of soft volcanic rock using granite picks. They were carved lying on their backs, so when nearly finished all that connected them to the surrounding rock was a slender keel running along the spine. This keel was then smashed out and the statue lowered down the crater's flanks, on a ramp constructed from the carving spoil, into a waiting pit. There the statue was set upright, and its back was finished. Many still stand at the quarry waiting to be transported to the coastal ahu platforms.
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It is thought that the statues found inside the creator rim were used to teach new carvers their craft and on which to practice before being allowed to work on the outer slopes.
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For reasons that remain a mystery, it appears that the workers at Rano Raraku set down their tools in the middle of a multitude of projects - and the moai-building abruptly ceased.
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Many believe that the statues were transported in a prone (face down) position, judging from the many statues left in transport lying face down. This, however, is far from conclusive, since what we see today may have had nothing with the way these statues were brought to these places.
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Another reason suggested for a face down position is that this is the preferred position from which to erect the statue. The statues on the Ahu along the sea shore are facing inland, with almost no room to manoeuvre on the sea side. The statue then must have come with its face down, base first, and then raised up to face inland.
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Local legends however say that the Moai moved in a vertical position.
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Jo Anne van Tilburg, an archaeologist from UCLA, has done the most extensive research on this topic, and has concluded that the most likely method involved moving the moai horizontally on a sled-like frame made of large palm trees and slowly erecting them on platforms using ropes, ramps and other devices. While these methods required massive amounts of labour and sophisticated engineering skills, they were well within the reach of the ancient inhabitants of Easter Island.
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In experiments the face up position was preferred because firstly the back of the statue is quite flat, which allows for an ideal weight distribution using only straight tree trunks, secondly, the statue is better protected from damage during transport, and lastly any frame required to support it is quite simple.
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Regardless of face up or down, it was most likely that the statue was not simply dragged on the ground, but was protected by some wood structure. The material these statues were carved from is compressed volcanic ash, which is relatively soft and would have suffered serious damage if dragged.
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To reduce resistance rollers could have been used, however this presented some difficulties: they must role on a firm surface; they must be uniformly round; they must be kept apart to avoid jamming; and they must be recycled by constantly moving them from the back to the front. But in experiments rollers did not perform well, some rollers rolled a little, but most slid on the tracks, also the rollers tended to bunched up.
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The experimenters also tried sliding with some quite encouraging results. With 50 people, once the break-away force was overcome, the statute accelerated to a fast walking (almost running) speed. The pullers, stopping only to realign the statue with the tracks covered a 100m span in about 2 hours.
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Depending upon the size of the statue, between 50 and 150 people would have been needed to drag it across the countryside.
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Another theory is that the moai was slid along on layers of yams and sweet potatoes.
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One of the more intriguing suggestions is that the moai were walked, in the same way that a fridge may be 'walked' - by using one corner as a fulcrum to advance another. The reason for this proposal lies in a common local legend: that the statues walked on their own by swivelling about on their bases, animated by the mana (spiritual power) of the king "Hearing his words all the statues set out and picked the places which were the most convenient to them". Whatever the technique actually employed, it almost certainly involved vast quantities of wood, rope, and elbow grease.
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Using a computer, the most energy efficient paths between the quarry and a Moai sites were calculated. The optimum path was found to correspond to an actual transport road.
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Charles Love, an archaeologist from Wyoming, has found that the ancient roadbeds were not flat and leveled, but were V-shaped in profile. What this means, and how statues might have been moved along them, is still unknown.
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Islanders have successfully demonstrated how their ancestors had erected their statues by simply pushing a slowly growing pile of stones underneath while prying the monolith up in tiny jerks with wooden poles. 18 days sufficed for 12 islanders to lift a twenty ton moai laying on the ground up to a level of an ahu and tilt it into an upright position.
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The last part of a moai to be carved were the eyes, this wasn't done until the moai was standing on the ahu. This b
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Pukao - Crown or Top knot
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A small number of the moai were once capped with "crowns" or "hats", called Pukaos, of red volcanic stone taken from the crater of Puna Pau. The meaning and purpose of these capstones is not known, but archaeologists have suggested that the moai thus marked were of pan-island ritual significance or perhaps sacred to a particular clan.
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Top Knots were not added until the 14th century.
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The Rapanui used a red mineral die to colour their hair, its suggested that this is what the top knot is representing.
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The join between the moai and the top knot was almost flat, just a small indentation no more than 75mm deep.
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http://www.media.uio.no/Kon-Tiki/Research/Papers/walking_statue.html
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