Dragos+Anita+-+Statue+of+Easter

**Moai** (or //**mo‘ai**)// ( IPA : [|/ˈmoʊаɪ/] ) are monolithichuman figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Papa NUi (Easter Island), mostly between 1250 and 1500 CENearly half are still at Rano Raraku the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on Ahu (platforms) which were mostly at the island's perimeter. Almost all have overly large heads three fifths the size of their body. The Moai are the 'living faces' //(aringa ora)// and chiefly representations of deified ancestors. Sitting on their Ahus with their backs to the sea, these statues were still gazing across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island, but most were then cast down during conflict between different clans on the island. The production and transportation process required significant intellect, use of resources, and creativity, and is considered a remarkable feat of human endeavour. The tallest moai erected, called //Paro,// was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 75 tonnes the heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter moai at [|Ahu Tongariki] which weighed 86 tons; while one unfinished sculpture would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 tons.