How big are the statues on Easter Island?

Rapa Nui’s mysterious moai statues stand in silence but speak volumes about the achievements of their creators. The stone blocks, carved into head-and-torso figures, average 13 feet (4 meters) tall and 14 tons.

Is Easter Island large or small?

Easter Island, also called Rapa Nui, is a small island located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean and is considered a special territory of Chile. Easter Island is most famous for its large moai statues that were carved by native peoples between 1250 and 1500.

What is the smallest statue on Easter Island?

The massive 887 stone statues or moai built in Easter Island by the Rapa Nui are unique. Although there are stone figures in other Polynesian islands none of them are of the size of the Easter Island statues. The largest finished statue reaches more than 30 feet or 9.14 meters and the smallest 6 feet or 1.80 meters.

What is the largest of the Easter Island carvings?

Besides its remoteness, Easter Island is, of course, famous for its massive stone sculptures or “Moais.” The largest of these is “El Gigante,” located near the Rano Raraku Quarry, which stands some 72 feet tall (well, 71.93 to be exact).

Why are there so many statues on Easter Island?

The stone moai statues of Easter Island represent revered ancestors of tribal groups who lived on Easter Island. These statues were erected above rectangular stone tomb platforms, facing inland, to protect the villagers who lived there.

How many figures are on Easter Island?

The 887 monolithic human figures carved from rock on Easter Island (known as moai ) are familiar to many people through iconic images that show the statues to be either just heads or a combination of heads and shoulders only:

How many statues are there on Easter Island?

Easter Island’s monumental stone heads are well-known, but there’s more to the story: all along, the sculptures have secretly had torsos, buried beneath the earth. Archaeologists have documented 887 of the massive statues, known as moai, but there may up as many as 1,000 of them on the island.

What are the names of the statues on Easter Island?

Prev Article Next Article. The Moai statues are also known as ‘moai’, ‘Easter Island heads’ and ‘Easter Island statues’, are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people between the years 1250 and 1500 CE. The Moai statues are located on Easter Island, or ‘Rapa Nui’ as the indigenous call it, a Polynesian island in the Pacific Ocean .