Easter Island facts

While investigating facts about Easter Island Heads and Easter Island Map, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Prior to the discovery of Easter Island in 1772, the native people of Rapa Nui, for 500 years, believed they were they only people on earth.

how easter island statues were moved?

Oxford University is 200 years older than the Aztecs, 300 years older than Machu Picchu, and 150 years older than the Easter Island heads

What happened at easter island?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what to do at easter island. Here are 50 of the best facts about Easter Island Moai and Easter Island History I managed to collect.

what caused many of the moai at easter island to be destroyed?

Society collapsed on Easter Island largely due to deforestation. One of the main reasons for this was that the trees were logged to move the giant Moai figures into position.
About rongorongo, a writing system created by the Rapa Nui of Easter Island. No living Rapa Nui understands it and it will likely never be deciphered.
Easter Island is the "most exploited island on Earth" with its famous Moai statues being all that's left of a civilization that collapsed in on itself after using up all its natural resources
The word for 'sweet potato' is 'kumara' in Maori and the language of Easter Island, and 'kumar' in Quechua (Peru), suggesting possible ancient contact between Polynesians and indigenous Americans
Both Easter Island and Christmas Island are named after the day European explorers first encountered them.
Easter Island is roughly 15.3 miles by 7.6 miles in size.
Only one unearthed statue was in a kneeling position while the remainder did not have legs that were visible.
One statue that was incomplete but had it been completed it would have been 270 tons and 69 feet high.
The moai have very distinguished features, including rectangular ears, deep eye slits, very strong chins and elongated noses. The nostrils have curls that look similar to fish hooks. Every moai has a heavy brow.
Easter Island is located in the south east of the Pacific Ocean. It was named by a Dutch explorer names Admiral Roggeveen who discovered the island on Easter Sunday.

easter island facts — What is there to do at easter island?

Why easter island statues were built?

You can easily fact check why easter island collapse by examining the linked well-known sources.

Tuff rocks may be found in the Northwest of the United States, much of Washington and Oregon as a result of the Mount St. Helens explosion. Other areas include New Zealand, Easter Island, Greece, and Peru.

Most now believe that the incomplete statues are a result of not being able to work through a hard rock inclusion while carving and that the carver simply moved on to a new statue.

The Easter Island Heads are actually full body sculptures hidden beneath the ground. - source

The reason for most of the statues facing inland is because they are thought to be protecting the villagers.

Easter Island is considered to be one of the most isolated, yet inhabited islands in the world.

When easter island statues made?

In the past large carvings were made from tuff, and there are famous statues on Easter Island made from tuff.

How easter island statues were made?

Some people believe that the incomplete statues suggest that the island is part of a once sunken continent.

The moai are considered by many to be political and religious authority symbols.

At one time it appeared that the statues consisted only of heads, but further digging by archaeologists revealed that there are also bodies attached that extend into the ground.

The hands of the moai were carved to have long slender fingers and to be resting on the hips. The arms are in various positions.

It is believed that hemp rope was used to transport the giant ancient stone statues found on Easter Island.

When easter island was discovered?

The mysterious script "Rongorongo," discovered on the Easter Islands, is still undecipherable. It may be one of the few languages invented in one location and not brought by another culture.

It is believed that the statues on Easter Island were created by the people of Rapa Nui sometime between 1250 CE and 1500 CE.

"collapse of civilizations" is a convenient myth we like to believe in, and that what really happened to the Maya or the Easter Islanders is more disintegration of nation-states than any kind of apocalypse.

Chile's climate varies greatly because of its size and shape. It has the driest desert in the world (northern Chile), a Mediterranean climate in central Chile, glaciers in Chile's south and east, and even humid sub-tropics on Easter Island.

How easter island was formed?

Theory also suggests that some statues were not finished because the days of carving statues finally ended.

Some believe that the moai are meant to signify sacred spirit, as the Rapa Nui people believe them to be bestowed with spiritual and magical essence.

In 1964 scientist taking soil samples on Easter Island discovered a bacterium producing a compound that is now used for transplant rejection drugs, cancer treatment and anti-aging.

The tallest of the statues "moai" is 33 feet tall and estimated to weigh 82 tons. The average height of a moai is 13.1 feet and weighs roughly 12.5 tons.

The name Makemake, the creator of humanity, god of fertility and chief god in the mythos of the Rapa Nui, the native people of Easter Island, was chosen because of its discovery shortly after Easter. In fact, before the discovery was made public, the team used the codename "Easterbunny" for the project.

All of the moai face inland except for one that faces the ocean. This one is found at the Rapa Nui's sacred place called Ahu Akivi.

While making the iconic head statues that stand today, the inhabitants of Easter Island deforested and ultimately trapped themselves on the island.

A decade after Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki voyage showed it was possible to drift from Peru to Polynesia, a team showed that the settlement of the Pacific by drift voyaging was “extremely unlikely,” and that Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island could not have been settled by a drift process

The famous Easter Island statues were likely markers for sources of fresh water.

The Polynesian settlers of Easter Island may have eventually come to near extinction by overzealous harvesting of native giant palms (for food, lumber needs, cleared space for agriculture, firewood) or because of imported/stowaway Polynesian rats

We discovered a potential life extension drug in the soil on Easter Island. This drug was FDA approved for its anti-rejection properties for organ transplant patients.

The Easter Island head statues actually are complete bodies but are just buried up to the shoulders

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Easter Island. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Easter Island so important!