Easter Island Part 12: Ahu Tongariki
Aug. 23rd, 2005 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanWe saw Tongariki earlier in the day, as we approached Rano Raraku. It is so amazing, even from a distance , that we were eager to return.
The 320 foot long Ahu supports 15 moai, out of up to 30 that are thought to have been here. In 1960 a tsunami hit this site (it hadn't been reconstructed yet) and moved these 40 ton statues up to 700 feet. This site is interesting because you can see how individual each moai is, ranging from 18 to 45 feet tall, with different body and face shapes.
In the mid 1990's the governor of the island was interviewed on television, and when asked what it would take to reconstruct the ahus on the island, he said that it would take a crane. In response, a Japanese crane company donated one, and some money, and lifted these moai into place.
During reconstruction, one pukao (the hats or topknots) was placed on one moai. Other attempts to place pukao on the moai didn't work, so they decided to leave well enough alone. The other pukao are lined up on one side. Ranu raraku, the mountain quarry where the moai stone was cut, is in the background.
In gratitude for the crane donation, a moai was sent to Japan for the Osaka Trade Fair exhibition--it's called "The travelling moai," and referred to by our guide as "the only moai with a passport." It's a small one, but one of the lovelier ones, I think. Someone remarked that the heavy lichen growth on his face makes it look like he's crying.
Nearby, a local artisan is making a copy of the moai that is in the British Museum--the only one with extensive carving on its back. (Dale made it clear that he thought that it should be returned, but Britain is under no legal obligation to do so. In fact, the British Museum has so many foreign artifacts, if they returned one, it would put them under pressure to return them all, at terrific expense. Still--they are stolen...)
On the outside edge of the main plaza are an array of 82 petroglyphs on the flat lava. They are right out in the open and fairly vulnerable to carelessness. They display the obsessions of the later period Rapanui:
Tuna.
Sea Turtle.
On the left is Makemake, the progenitor god/phallic symbol. On the right is the birdman. In the middle is some kind of face or mask.
Next: Te Pito Kura and Anakena
The 320 foot long Ahu supports 15 moai, out of up to 30 that are thought to have been here. In 1960 a tsunami hit this site (it hadn't been reconstructed yet) and moved these 40 ton statues up to 700 feet. This site is interesting because you can see how individual each moai is, ranging from 18 to 45 feet tall, with different body and face shapes.
In the mid 1990's the governor of the island was interviewed on television, and when asked what it would take to reconstruct the ahus on the island, he said that it would take a crane. In response, a Japanese crane company donated one, and some money, and lifted these moai into place.
During reconstruction, one pukao (the hats or topknots) was placed on one moai. Other attempts to place pukao on the moai didn't work, so they decided to leave well enough alone. The other pukao are lined up on one side. Ranu raraku, the mountain quarry where the moai stone was cut, is in the background.
In gratitude for the crane donation, a moai was sent to Japan for the Osaka Trade Fair exhibition--it's called "The travelling moai," and referred to by our guide as "the only moai with a passport." It's a small one, but one of the lovelier ones, I think. Someone remarked that the heavy lichen growth on his face makes it look like he's crying.
Nearby, a local artisan is making a copy of the moai that is in the British Museum--the only one with extensive carving on its back. (Dale made it clear that he thought that it should be returned, but Britain is under no legal obligation to do so. In fact, the British Museum has so many foreign artifacts, if they returned one, it would put them under pressure to return them all, at terrific expense. Still--they are stolen...)
On the outside edge of the main plaza are an array of 82 petroglyphs on the flat lava. They are right out in the open and fairly vulnerable to carelessness. They display the obsessions of the later period Rapanui:
Tuna.
Sea Turtle.
On the left is Makemake, the progenitor god/phallic symbol. On the right is the birdman. In the middle is some kind of face or mask.
Next: Te Pito Kura and Anakena
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Date: 2005-08-25 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-25 10:52 am (UTC)Our guide's theory is that they also served as territorial markers (and status symbols) for the different clans around the island.
Here's what McLaughlin says in "The Complete Guide to Easter Island":
"Monolithic stone carvings in human form which constitute a particular class or category of sculpture; thought to derive from mo ai, meaning "for the progeny" or "for the descendants""