Destination: EASTER ISLAND, Chile

Mystery Island

Easter Island has been known for centuries. It's those amazing stone statues that remain the puzzle

By JONATHAN SISKIN -- Special to Sun Media

EASTER ISLAND, Chile -- Few places on earth evoke the sense of awe and mystery that pervades Easter Island. Famed explorer Thor Heyerdahl dubbed it the "Island of a Thousand Mysteries," and to this day many questions about the island and its original inhabitants remain unanswered.

The giant, enigmatic stone statues known as moai, for which the island is renowned, have confounded archeologists and anthropologists who continue to debate their meaning.

Measuring just 14 miles long and seven miles wide, Easter Island is the most isolated inhabited island in the world. Its closest inhabited neighbor, sparsely populated Pitcairn Island (population 38), lies some 1,200 miles to the west. Chile, which annexed Easter Island in 1888, is 2,400 miles to the east.

Earlier this year I was a passenger aboard Society Expeditions' World Discoverer on a 17-day cruise which sailed from Easter Island to Tahiti with stops at 12 South Pacific islands en route including Pitcairn Island, Mangareva, the Marquesas and Bora Bora. The journey began with a five-hour flight via Lan Chile from Chile's capital, Santiago, to Easter Island, where we spent two days touring the island prior to departing on the cruise.

Easter Island's first settlers are believed to have arrived between AD 400-500. They called the island Te Pito O Te Henua meaning the navel of the world; it was given the name Easter Island by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who was the first European to set foot on the island, on Easter Sunday in 1722.

Although the origins of the first inhabitants have not been definitely determined, most experts now believe they sailed here from a Polynesian island far to the west, such as Mangareva or the Marquesas. Propelled in outrigger canoes across thousands of miles of ocean by the winds and currents, they likely never intended to sail here but arrived by accident after losing their way in the vast reaches of the South Pacific.

Contrary to this theory, Heyerdahl still insists they came from Peru or somewhere in the Central Andes of South America. Heyerdahl bases his belief on the carving style used to fashion stone blocks found on the island, which are cut and fit together with infinite precision similar to the methods used by the Incas of Peru.

Once on Easter Island, the early inhabitants faced enormous difficulties in surviving on an island totally cut off from the rest of the world. However, despite the isolation, they not only survived but thrived, creating a civilization that rose to the heights of artistic expression.

In the end, they would leave behind as their enduring legacy hundreds of moai that today make up the world's ultimate open-air museum. While stone statues are found on other Polynesian islands scattered across the South Pacific, nothing discovered so far even begins to approach the grandeur and majesty of the moai.

According to island traditions, the moai were an integral part of a complex religion based on ancestor worship. They were carved to resemble deified ancestors and believed to possess cosmic and magical powers that would protect their descendants.

Construction of stone altars known as ahu, on which the moai were erected, began around AD 700 at sites primarily along the coast. These ahus also served as tombs in which the remains of important ancestors were laid to rest. The creation of the moai began several centuries later, as most were carved and placed on the ahus in a 300-year period from AD 1200-1500.

Observing the moai from a few feet away provides a powerful sense of the sculptors' artistry, as they relied solely on primitive obsidian knives to carve on such a grand scale. It has been estimated that to sculpt a 30-foot moai weighing 100 tons would require 30 men a year to carve, 90 men two months to move it just five miles and another 90 men three more months to erect it on the ahu.

Other questions persist about the means used to haul the mammoth statues (some reach heights of 50 feet and weigh upwards of 100 tons) for several miles across the island and then erect them on the ahu. It is believed that they were placed on wooden sledges and then dragged to the ahu by pulling ropes made out of tree bark. The statues were then hoisted to a standing position through the use of a pulley system.

Most of the standing moai had to be re-erected to their original positions after being toppled during intertribal warfare or natural disasters (a tidal wave knocked over several moai in 1960). Many statues, however, still remain resting on their sides or lying face down on the rocky terrain.

An especially haunting, surreal place is the volcano Rano Kau with its perfectly rounded crater containing a multicolored lake. Due to the high humidity, dense vegetation flourishes on the jagged walls of the crater. Concealed within the crater are entrances to caves which few people except the islanders have ever entered.

Not far from the crater are remnants of the village of Orongo, built on cliffs overlooking the ocean. As late as the 1860s Orongo was inhabited by members of the bizarre Bird Man cult, who left more than than 150 petroglyphs etched on boulders and cave walls.

Escorted tours stop at Orongo and other important sites around the island such as Ahu Togariki, the largest excavated and restored monument in all of Polynesia; Anakena Beach, home of Easter Island's ancient kings; and the Rano Raraku volcano.

On the slopes of Rano Raraku is the quarry where most of the moai were sculpted out of the soft volcanic rock. After working feverishly to produce some 600 moai in 300 years, more than 150 moai were suddenly abandoned here in an unfinished state. Many moai can be seen standing upright in the quarry with only their heads visible as the rest of the incomplete statue lies buried in the earth.

While reasons for halting production of the moai are still unclear, some theorize that it was due to the onset of fierce tribal warfare and cannibalism which decimated the population. Other factors such as overpopulation and deforestation combined to wreak havoc on the island and by the late 1800s a population that once had reached 7,000 had shrunk to 200. Nowadays there are approximately 2,500 people on Easter Island.

GETTING THERE: Only one airline, Lan Chile, flies to Easter Island so reservations should be made well in advance. For reservations, call Lan Chile at 1-800-735-5526. Society Expeditions' 138-passenger World Discoverer includes Easter Island on its 17-day, 2,500-mile "In the Wake of the Bounty" cruise which is scheduled twice every year. Contact Society Expeditions at 1-800-548-8869.

ACCOMMODATION: There are just a few hotels on Easter Island. Most tour groups stay at one of the following: Hotel Hanga Roa, Iorana Hotel, Hotel Hotu Matua or Hotel OTai. For those who prefer to travel independently, there is an assortment of reasonably priced bed and breakfast accommodations available. They may be booked upon arrival at the airport from local islanders on hand to meet incoming flights.

(First featured: January 13, 1998)