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Construction of the Rapa Nui moai begins on Easter Island

c. 1250 CE·Culture, arts & philosophy·Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Polynesia·
c. 1250 CEDate
Culture, arts & philosophyCategory
24Empires active
Date
c. 1250 CE
Category
Culture, arts & philosophy
Region
Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Polynesia
Era
Post-Classical / Medieval
Significance

Around 1250 CE, roughly half a century after Polynesian voyagers settled Rapa Nui (Easter Island), the islanders began carving the monumental stone statues known as moai.

Most were hewn from the soft volcanic tuff of the Rano Raraku crater, then transported across the island and erected on ceremonial stone platforms called ahu, where they typically faced inland to watch over the living. The moai embodied deified ancestors and were thought to channel their sacred power, or mana, linking lineage authority to religious and political life. Carving continued intensively until about 1500, by which time close to 900 statues had been produced, the largest standing roughly 10 metres tall and weighing dozens of tonnes. The statue cult eventually waned amid environmental strain and social upheaval, and many moai were toppled in later centuries, but the surviving figures remain among the most iconic monumental sculptures of the ancient world.

See the world map in c. 1250 CE →More culture, arts & philosophyThe Post-Classical / Medieval era

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E. H. Gombrich

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