Four mind-blowing facts/mysteries about Easter Island

Easter Island is one of the world’s most remote volcanic islands. Based 3000km off the coast of Chile in the Pacific Ocean, it’s a must visit for all travellers looking for ancient history and adventure. A treasure trove of amazing sights and once in a lifetime experiences, Easter Island has many mysteries well worth discovering, one being the Moai statues which most people head there to see. Here are four mind-blowing facts about Easter Island and why you must visit with Round the World Experts today:

Moai Statues

One of the main reasons travellers head to the infamous Easter Island are to see the 288 Moai statues which stand around half a mile apart each forming a ring around the edge of the island. Each individual statue is different and symbolises ancient ancestors and important people who passed away. The huge statues were built between the years 1400-1600 A.D by the Rapa Nui and took 6 men each to build one and, at least, a year to finish each single one.

Handcrafted from Volcanoes

They were crafted using handheld chisels from chipping away at solidified volcanic ash. Most were carved by many of the island’s current inhabitant’s relatives. With only 5,800 people currently living on Easter Island, it’s thought that over 60% of the population are descendants of the native tribes.

CC: Arian Zwegers

Over 600 left unfinished

The most mind-blowing fact about the impressive statues is that they were built before widespread use of wheels or animals to transport them, so how they were transported the 18km across the island is one of the island’s biggest mysteries. Their movement is even more astonishing considering that the heaviest moai weighs around 86 tons in weight. When exploring the island, one of the biggest archaeological mysteries is that there are around 600 scattered moai statues that have been left in various stages of construction and are unfinished

Religious symbols

An even more astonishing feat is that some of them are completed with a large red stone rock which can look like a hat and appears to have been placed upon the statue at the very end. Considering the statues’ enormity, it’s a mystery how the Rapa Nui managed to get them on there without the use of modern technology. It’s not confirmed what the purpose of these red stone hats was but it is thought that they may have been a symbol of an ancient religious practise hence their spiritual value to the island’s current inhabitants.