Easter Island Statues

A man was arrested for ramming a truck into an Easter Island Statue which is considered as sacred and ‘a national monument’.

Rapa Nui People

The Easter Island Statues are attributed to the Rapa Nui people. They are aboriginal Polynesians who settled in the Easter Island between 300 and 1200 CE. Currently, their population is mainly distributed over mainland Chile and the Easter Island. Their main source of income is tourism.

Moai

Moai are monolithic human figures carved out of stone. These were carved by the Rapa Nui people between 1400 and 1650 and are positioned in the form of a ring around the island. The statues face inwards. About 1,000 such statues are on the island. The largest of them is 10m tall and weighs about 74 tonnes. They are believed to embody the spirit of a prominent ancestor of the Rapa Nui.

Easter Island

The Eastern Island is under the sovereignty of Chile and is considered a part of ‘Insular Chile’. It is located in the south-eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. It is a part of the Polynesian Triangle of Oceania. It was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.