Easter Island

A newly discovered Moai statue on Easter Island has been found buried in a dried up lake bed.

["totally charred"](https://www.livescience.com/easter-island-fire-irreparably-damages-statues) and in 2020 a resident damaged one of the sacred statues with a pickup truck, causing ["incalculable damage." The new finding is a spate of good news, as several moai have been damaged over the past few years. [1,000 moai statues](https://www.livescience.com/24021-easter-island-rapa-nui.html). [torsos are buried underground](https://www.livescience.com/20580-easter-island-heads-bodies.html), are famous for their carved heads and "Pukao," a hat-like covering made from a soft red stone. [watching the Good Morning America report](https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/travel/story/gma-gets-1st-new-moai-statue-found-easter-97457249) (opens in new tab). "They represent the deified ancestors of today's islanders," Hunt said. The monoliths are enormous, too, with the largest statue, named Moai Paro, standing at 32 feet (10 meters) tall and weighing 90 tons (82 metric tons), the [Easter Island Statue Project reported](https://www.eisp.org/1954/) (opens in new tab). Unlike the other statues, which were found across the island, including on the slopes around Lake Rano Raraku, a volcanic crater that supplied much of the volcanic stone used to craft the moai statues, this moai was found in an unexpected place: the bottom of Lake Rano Raraku. ](https://www.livescience.com/easter-island-moai-car-crash.html) Meanwhile, the [British Museum has two moai statues](https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/contested-objects-collection/moai) (opens in new tab), which Rapa Nui leaders have asked to be returned. [PLOS One](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210409) (opens in new tab) reported. [Good Morning America reports](https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/travel/story/gma-gets-1st-new-moai-statue-found-easter-97457249) (opens in new tab). [Terry Hunt](https://communityclassroom.arizona.edu/people/terry-l-hunt) (opens in new tab), a professor of archaeology at the university of Arizona who specializes in the environmental histories of the Pacific Islands, told Good Morning America.

The Rapa Nui people carved almost 1,000 Moai statues from tuff, a volcanic rock, between the 13th and 16th centuries. The statues are believed to represent ...

The reason why the Rapa Nui people carved and erected the Moai statues is still a mystery, though it is believed that they may have served as a way to honor ancestors, leaders, or gods. The Moai are large, monolithic stone statues that were carved by the Rapa Nui people between the 13th and 16th centuries. As a result, there is an ongoing debate about the repatriation of one sculpture, Hoa Hakananai'a, which was taken without permission by the U.K.'s Royal Navy in 1868 and is currently held by the British Museum. The [Rapa Nui ](https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/rapa-nui-0014901)people carved almost 1,000 Moai statues from tuff, a volcanic rock, between the 13th and 16th centuries. [Easter Island ](https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/easter-island-moai-0013007)- statues that are important markers of [Rapa Nui ](https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/return-of-the-moai-0016514)culture and heritage. The Moai are made from a volcanic rock called tuff, which is found in several quarries on the island. There are over 800 known Moai on Easter Island, ranging in height from a few feet to over 30 feet tall. The ahu served as a ceremonial center and were often located near the coast. The discovery of the new Moai statue has excited researchers, as it is smaller than most others on the island, and had been hidden by tall reeds in the dry lake bed. “When there’s one moai in the lake, there’s probably more.” They’re iconic worldwide, and they really represent the fantastic archaeological heritage of this island.” It has been described as a “very, very important discovery” for the Rapa Nui people.

Easter Island, natively known as Rapa Nui, is a remote volcanic island in Polynesia that formed from volcanic eruptions in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Gina ...

"There have been no moai that are found in what was previously a lake. "Oh my goodness this is amazing. Lake Rano Raraku has recently evaporated in the last two years, due in part to

A new statue has been discovered on Easter Island, adding to the mysterious and iconic Moai statues that have been a part of the island's culture for.

Archaeologists have studied the statues to learn more about the Rapa Nui people and their culture. In recent years, researchers have used DNA analysis to trace the origins of the Rapa Nui people and to learn more about their history. The Rapa Nui people have a long and complex history, and their culture is deeply intertwined with the moai. As the team continues to uncover the secrets of Easter Island, they hope to gain a better understanding of the island’s past and its impact on the world. - A new statue has been discovered on Easter Island, adding to the mysterious and iconic Moai statues that have been a part of the island’s culture for centuries. They have discovered that the island was once home to a thriving society that was able to build and maintain a complex network of roads, irrigation systems, and other infrastructure.