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Living on the water in Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Taha'a in the late afternoon from the Paul Gaugiun
Anakena has two Ahus, one with a single Moai and other shown here with six. Oral traditions state that Anakena was the landing place where Hotu Matu'a, the Polynesian chief first settled on Rapa Nui. Anakena served as one of the locations of the 1994 Kevin Reynolds film, Rapa Nui. TQ 2010 memory book image 6 of 11
Be they standing or toppled, the Moai give us a hint of past events on Rapa Nui. Much of that past was lost due to war, plague, or burning of written records by missionaries. Oral traditions combined with modern archaeology allow us to glimpse into the mysteries of Rapa Nui and to speculate about the root causes of such destruction. TQ 2010 memory book image 10 of 11
All of the Moai lost their eyes during the Rapa Nui civil wars and Huri Moai (statue toppling). A team of archaeologists led by Sergio Rapu Haoa (in 1979) discovered that the Moai elliptical eye sockets were designed to hold coral eyes with a pupil made of black Obsidian or Red Scoria. This Ahu Tahai Moai had its Pukao topknot and coral eyes restored by the archaeologist William Mullo. TQ 2010 memory book image 2 of 11
Civil wars on Rapa Nui broke out sometime between 1770 and 1774. The pre-civil war population of the Rapa Nui was estimated to be 60 000. European explorers estimated the population to be less than 10 000 after the wars. One result of these wars was Huri Moai (statue toppling). The Dutch in 1722 and the Spanish in 1770 reported seeing only standing Moai. When James Cook arrived in 1774, he found that many of the Moai had been toppled. Huri Moai continued into the 1830s. By 1838 only a few statues were reported remaining upright. By 1868, the only Moai remaining upright were found on the slopes of the Rano Raraku quarry, possibly in incomplete construction. The Moai were usually toppled forwards to have their faces hidden. Many were toppled onto another stone in such a way that their necks broke. The Moai of Ahu Akahanga shown here fell intact. Today, only about 50 of the more than 850 toppled Moai have been re-erected. Many of the Rapa Nui people prefer that the fallen Moai not be raised, that they may serve as a reminder of the horrors that befell Rapa Nui many years ago. TQ 2010 memory book image 7 of 11
Starting in December 1862, slave traders from Peru conducted a series of violent abductions capturing or killing around 1500 of the 3000 remaining inhabitants of Rapa Nui over the course of several months. International protests led by Bishop Florentin-Etienne Jaussen of Tahiti forced the slave traders to give up their slaves in the autumn of 1863. Unfortunately most of the captured Rapa Nui had died of Dysentery, Tuberculosis, and Smallpox. Only about a dozen Rapa Nui returned from Peru. The dozen who returned brought with them a smallpox plague. Some claim the island’s population was so devastated by smallpox that the dead were buried in mass graves. To commerate the suffering of the Rapa Nui during the 1860s, several Moai on the slopes of Rano Raraku were marked with pock-like holes. TQ 2010 memory book image 9 of 11
A number of the Moai just outside of the Rano Raraku quarry are partially buried to their shoulders. These Moai are distinctive in that their eye sockets were not hollowed out to receive the coral eyes, nor do they have the Pukao topknot stones. These Moai were not cast down during the Huri Moai (statue toppling) of the island's civil wars. TQ 2010 memory book image 8 of 11
Lets us hope not. Let us work to ensure that the religious and political factions of today do not lead us to a similar fate! TQ 2010 memory book image 11 of 11
Living on the water in Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Living on the water in Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Living on the water in Bora Bora, French Polynesia
See photo in original gallery.
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