Moai

I am a bit obsessed with Moai. I bought this for our garden a few years ago and then was lucky enough to see the real thing in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) on our 6 week travels in South America in 2012.

The statues were carved between 1250 and 1500AD. They are thought to represent ancient ancestors. The statues face the land with their backs to the ocean as if to watch over the people. The eye sockets are thought to have contained coral eyes with black obsidian pupils. The Moai were not 'alive' until the eyes were placed in their sockets which was completed after the Moai were in their correct position.

The quarries where the statues were carved were abandoned abruptly with 500 statues in the middle of bring carved or in 'transportation'. No one knows why this culture suddenly ended.