Trifter

The mystery of why the Easter Island statues were created may never be solved, but we may be a step closer to answering the question of how. British archaeologists from University College London and the University of Manchester have found evidence that the round red hats, known as pukao, found on some of the statues, were carved from ancient volcanic rock and rolled to be placed on top of the statues.

With each of these pukao weighing several tonnes this was a remarkable feat of engineering which dates back perhaps 1,000 years. Carving and manipulating the rock to produce these hats that have survived so well and for so long must have been a huge undertaking. The importance of these figures to the local indigenous population is evident from the scale of this project.

The statues are commonly thought to represent the dead and the ancestors or leaders of the population on Easter Island. There is now also some evidence that these statues were religious icons, with an offering of an adze, a ceremonial axe, being found in pristine condition next to the statues. This theory fits well with the amount of work and effort that was involved in creating them. Perhaps both cases may be true with people offering reverence or worship to their ancestors.

These statues with the pukao are found more densely near to the extinct Easter Island volcano where the rock was carved for the hats. This would certainly have made transport easier but might also indicate that the volcano was in some way the centre of religious focus. Living in such proximity to such a powerful force of nature it is easy to consider how this could be a centre of attention for the population.

Other statues, famous for their large noses and prominent chins, are found across the coast of Easter Island looking over the sea. There is little doubt that the sea would have provided the people of Easter Island with much of their food and they would have relied heavily on it for their survival. The sea may also have been a source of reverence and worship for the population.

The mysteries behind the Easter Island statues will probably remain the source of speculation and contention for many years to come. Adding another piece to the puzzle is the question of why they stopped producing them. The quarry where much of the stone was worked was abandoned, with tools left behind and finished statues left without being moved. Why these statues were made and why they were abandoned abruptly is one of the great conundrums for modern day historians and archaeologists.