While Europeans eventually discovered the impressive moai statues for which the Rapa Nui are best known, they also stumbled upon a yet-undeciphered script known as Rongorongo—a three-dimensional ...

A sweeping 3D analysis of Rapa Nui’s main moai quarry shows that the island’s iconic statues weren’t produced by a single ruling authority, but by many small, independent groups working simultaneously ...

The online model lets researchers and anyone with an internet connection explore areas that the island’s 100,000 annual ...

Isolated in the Pacific, Easter Island is famed for its towering Moai statues—but the real story lies in the resilience of ...

Learn how several working groups with their own carving techniques built the iconic moai of Easter Island.

A new 3D model shows Rapa Nui’s moai were carved by many small teams, overturning the myth of a single centralized system.

Scientists have uncovered how ancient Easter Islanders moved massive moai statues. Instead of dragging them flat, the statues were rocked upright. T ...

A first-ever 3D model of the Rano Raraku quarry lets anyone examine Easter Island’s iconic statue workshop in vivid detail.

We’re documenting something that really has needed to be documented, but in a way that’s really comprehensive and shareable.” ...

Unfinished moai attached to bedrock by “keels” along their backs demonstrate how carvers worked underneath from both sides until figures were separated from the source material. This production stage, ...

There are more than 1,000 moai statues on Easter Island, representing a key part of the region’s cultural and archeological past. A new moai, smaller than most, was found in a dried-up lakebed. The ...

Rano Raraku, a steep-sided crater on the southeastern coast of Rapa Nui (as locals call the island), was the heart of moai ...