Easter Island - Puna Rau

The journey through the centre of the island is along endless meadows and rolling hills. What stands out significantly is the lack of trees, which is the same for most of the island. There are patches here or there but most are not native to Rapa Nui. 

When the first settlers arrived with some unsuspecting guests, the Polynesian rat, Rapa Nui was teeming with native palms and other large trees. Pollen and nut studies on the island suggest that they likely belonged to native, giant, palm trees similar to Jubaea, a Chilean sugar palm tree that grows up to 60ft (18m) in height. 

The palm tree had many uses. A tapped palm tree would yield over 400 litres of sap that was used as a sweet and nutritious beverage. Its core would be harvested and the nuts collected for food. Along with other tree types, the palm was also used for thatching, making ropes and clothes, weaving mats and baskets, and building canoes, levers and sails. 

The rats that hitched a ride found an abundance of food with no natural predators besides the humans. Feasting on the unlimited supply, they multiplied exponentially, doubling almost every six weeks. 

Within a few centuries, the island could no longer sustain the excessive needs of its occupants nor its population growth. At its height, Rapa Nui had as many as 15,000 inhabitants and who knows how many rats. Usage outgrew new growth and by late 17th century the island was treeless. 

The effects of overharvesting began with deforestation. With no trees, the islanders couldn’t build their canoes to fish, diminishing their food source and their ability to search for food elsewhere. Island-bound, they were also unable to reduce the population through migration. 

Native land birds went extinct and the trees could no longer disperse their pollen. More than 20 plant species disappeared. With no supply of timber, the Moai could no longer be transported, thereby abandoning this ceremonial practice and replacing it with the Birdman Cult. 

The Rapanui found themselves in an ecological trap. Famine followed causing significant social upheaval. By the time the Europeans’ arrived, the population dropped to around 2,000 inhabitants and the island was devoid of trees.

Today, Easter Island has only 5% arboreal coverage whilst two-thirds of it suffers from erosion caused by climate change with Poike the most affected. Reforesting programs are underway but given the island’s open and windy environment and lack of soil nutrients, the process will take time. 

For now, the Australian eucalyptus tree seems to be doing well on the island regardless of the environment and I enjoyed seeing patches of them as I progressed towards Puna Rau. 

Puna Rau is a small extinct volcano and the quarry of red scoria, the material used to make the pukao. The scoria is a type of volcanic ash that is highly porous with a reddish tint due to the iron oxide composition. It is soft and easy to carve making it a desirable rock for the pukao and other small items but unsuitable for large scale carvings like the Moai. 

Given the sheer size and weight of the pukao, it is surmised that the islanders used their cylindrical shape to roll them on custom-built roads to their destination. It is also thought that the pukao was added to the Moai either by using ramps and rolling it on top of the standing statue or attaching it to the statue if in a lying position with ropes and then elevating it all as one piece. 

Rolling off the hilltop, I make my way back to Hanga Roa.

 

Easter Island - Ahu Tongariki

 

I made my way down the hill where I came upon Ahu Vinapu, a ceremonial platform with incredibly precise stonemasonry that once used to carry Moai statues. The Moai were knocked down between the 18th-19th centuries during the warring periods between clans. Six of them are visible, face down on the ground. Nearby is a buried Moai from which only the head protrudes.

Travelling along the southern coastline of the island, my next stop was Akahanga, an ancient village where Hotu Matu’a is said to have been buried. Here, the ahu, a 59ft (18m) long platform with 13 toppled statues has been left unrestored to illustrate the decline of Rapa Nui culture. 

The ahu were sacred platforms dedicated to ancestor worship. On top were the famous Moai statues, each with its own name. When a king died, a statue was erected in his name. 

The largest platform is at Ahu Tongariki, about 5mi (8km) east of Akahanga. At 330ft (100m) in length the ahu holds 15 Moai of varying heights and sizes. The tallest is 28ft (8.6m) and weighs 86 tonnes. Originally all the statues had a pukao (ceremonial hats) but only one remains with it on. 

The statues have a minimalist, consistent form. Column-shaped, they have an elongated head, long ears, long nose and protruding lips. The eyes are sunken and hollow but at one time the eyes were filled with coral and black obsidian or red scoria as the pupils. The body is squatting with arms in various positions and without legs. 

The Moai are made of tuff quarried from the nearby Rano Raraku, a volcanic crater. Most of the carving occurred at the quarries by chipping away at the rock until most of the sculpture emerged. It was then smoothed with pumice and prepared for transportation. Evidence indicates that ropes and wooden sleds on rollers pulled by a large group of islanders were used to transport the statues to their ahu. A stone ramp with levers was then built to help push the Moai into position. Once upright the carvers would complete the back of the statue, and the ramp and levers were removed. 

A significant amount of finished and unfinished statues remains in the main quarry, with hundreds more scattered on the grounds, buried up to their necks. For a long time and many still think that the heads were all there was to the statues. However, following an extensive study, archaeologists excavated two statues revealing their hidden bodies. The statues with only the heads visible are a result of the island’s natural erosion. A build up of rocks and sediment over centuries buried the statues, preserving their torsos and the etched petroglyphs on their back. 

With nearly 1,000 statues discovered, the task of carving, transporting and placing them all over the island would have been a monumental and physically wearing task.