The Mystery Behind Easter Island Statues And Fatboy

One of the most isolated sites in the world, Easter Island is known for its colossal stone statues. The historical structures in this remote district of Chile are believed to have been carved by volcanic rocks. However, the identity of the craftsmen who created them remains mysteriously unknown…

What’s In A Name?

Christened by a Dutch explorer, Jacob Roggeveen, the Easter Island was actually discovered on April 5^th 1722, which happened to be Easter Sunday that year. People who lived on this island, located in the South Pacific Ocean, called themselves the ‘Rapa Nui’. Till date, no one knows which tribe they belonged to, how they reached here and where they disappeared to…

Legend Has It…

Also known as moai statues, some archaeologists believe that these mysterious statues symbolize spirits of ancestors and other high-ranking chiefs of the primeval Easter Island. Standing tall, you would find almost 900 Easter Island statues here. These silent-looking statues speak louder in terms of their number, structure and of course, size. No wonder, a UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites was inevitable.

Did You Know?

• Fatboy, which is the largest Easter Island statue (70 feet tall), is actually incomplete.
• Get ready to shell out $17000 if you try to mess with any of the Easter Island statues. Once a tourist tried to rip out one of the ears of the stone giant. As a result, he was heavily fined and evicted too.
• While most of the statues are part of the island, some of them were transported to world famous museums including Paris’s Louvre Museum and British Museum.

Do They Move?

While much has been said about the movement of these Easter Island Statues, a group of scientists have coined a new theory for this. They say that these stone giants were built in such a way that they could be moved upright using manual force and rope. While the fat belly of the statue can be easily tilted forward, the strong D-shaped base enables people to move it from side to side. However, natives feel otherwise and claim that the statues actually walk!

Statues Under Threat…

While varied weather conditions is one reason, tourists who touch or climb over these statues also worsen the overall deterioration process. Archaeologists feel that a combination of all these factors can result in fast decaying of these statues in the years to come.

And before that happens, I’m off to visit this mysterious island and unveil more mysteries.