Walking Statues

Tuesday, March 15, 2016 WTRD 67

Yesterday, because we got up long before the rooster crowed, we were surprised at the cacophony of sounds this morning as dawn: dogs barking, roosters crowing, babies crying, and church bells ringing.  It would have been impossible without earplugs to sleep past 6:00 am.

Today, it would have been nice to sleep in as our guide for the day is not coming until 10:00 am.  Angie and Kathleen had pre-booked a group tour for Tuesday.  Russ and I had booked a private tour with a local historian and an indigenous descendant of Raps Nui and President of the group to revitalize Rapa Nui's cultural heritage.

Kake was going to be the driver, Jethro the guide, but Kake had a health issue the day before.  She didn't speak much English, but Jethro said she had a pre-cardiac attack.  Not sure what that meant, but she didn't look too well.  I was hoping it wasn''t caused by the half dozen donuts we had given her the day before, but Jethro said she smoked too much.

The end result was that Kake had to bow out as the driver, so she rented a car for us.  Russ drove and Jethro (who only had a motorcycle license was our native, English speaking guide for the day. 

During the day we ran into Kathleen and Angie several times at different village and ahu sites.  We were pleased to have our guide.  He was well researched, a recipient of oral history from his ancestors, and passionate about Rapa Nui and the heritage he wanted to leave for the next generation.

Red Rock used for Wind Crowns on Moais

Foundation Stones for Upside Down Boat Shaped House

Cows and horses run wild everywhere in Rapa Nui.  This is a problem, not only because tourists run into them, but they trample the petroglyphs and historic sites.  Jethro explained that he took photographs 15 years ago of the petroglyphs. He pointed out to us how they can barely be recognized today because of the livestock damage.

We learned the oral and researched history of the island, most of what Russ had pre-read, but certainly more significant from Jethro.  Russ was keenly interested in visiting the quarry on the side of a volcanic crater where the moats were carved.  From here the moais (statues) often in excess of 10 tons, and 10 meters high were transported to their ahus 20 kilometers away.  Keep in mind, the only tools the early indigenous had were rocks (obsidian, pumas, igneous rocks) and limited wood.  How were these moais moved?

There were so many villages and generations of dying chiefs, production of the moais had to become efficient.  The Rapa Nui people quarried and carved the moais on a steep volcanic hillside.

Some of the workers did the rough cuts, others did the finish work.  The hillside is stepped out with many in production, one on top of the other so as not to waste materials.

Each terraced step is a moai in production

While there were plenty of rocks, they knew their source was not unlimited, and they were careful not to waste.

Can you see the middle moai being carved.  He is supine on a diagonal.

As centuries passed, the moai noses became more refined (artistic license)

The first post production step was to move the statue from the carving site which may have been in a horizontal position so that it was positioned vertically on the mountain side with the head uphill and the base down hill.  Using the natural steep incline of the mountain, fulcrum leveraging, vegetable twine ropes, and lots of human muscle, the statues were pulled upright.  (Human power was essential, and large families were encouraged).

The artistic late-model nose

The earlier realistic nose 

 The base of the statues were rounded like a cup that could sit flat but could also be be shifted one way or the other  or "walked" over the terrain to its presentation ahu.  Our guide said moving "walking" the statues is like positioning a refrigerator, a side to side  diagonal pull, push and walk.  Yes, it took a lot of time and energy, but what else was there to do, and they had unlimited time.  Besides, they needed to work to get their chickens (seriously!).

There are other theories of how the statues got from one place to the other.  The one Jethro presented to us was his first and best theory.  He said another was to use logs to roll the statues, and the least likely was by boat.  One only needs to look at the unforgiving coast line, the small size of the vakas, and the tremendous size and weight of the moais to realize how unlikely this theory is.  And of course he dismissed with disdain any notion that aliens moved the statues.

The quarry was fascinating.  From here we visited petroglyphs, more ahus.

These are the moai we saw in the dawn the day before.  Our guide said they had been reconstructed by a construction company who would do the work for nothing if they could get advertising credit.  Jethro was not happy with reconstruction.  He said the statues were not in the proper order as one would expect from growing size and style of the moai.  He also said the construction company destroyed all of the house foundations around the ahu.

and the beautiful white sand beach where oral history and the size of the house foundation indicated this was the original settlement of the king.

We returned to our cabanas around 5:00 pm, cleaned up, drank wine coolers, and snacks prepared by Angie.  It had been a full day for all of us.  As the sky turned orange, we dashed to the beach to catch our final sunset.

We leave tomorrow for Santiago.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Rapa Nui (Easter Island)