Moai from Easter Island

The figure is carved from tuff, a soft volcanic rock quarried at the crater of Rano Raraku, where hundreds of unfinished moai still lie in the hillside. Look at the surface: the stone is porous and pitted, and the original finish would have been smoother, with the eyes filled with white coral and dark scoria to bring the figure to life once it stood on its platform. The proportions are typical, with a huge head, elongated ears, arms held tight to the body and hands with long fingers meeting over the belly. The body is truncated at the hips because moai were meant to rise from the ground. This example is smaller than the giants of the island, some of which weigh over eighty tonnes, but it is complete and beautifully preserved.

The statue was collected in 1886 by the crew of the United States Navy ship Mohican, on a visit that also produced the first detailed survey of the island's monuments. The Smithsonian has two moai from that voyage, taken from an inland platform called Ahu O'Pepe. Today the people of Rapa Nui regard the moai as living ancestors, and museums around the world have been asked to reconsider how such figures are shown. Notice how the eyes, empty now, still seem to hold a gaze; islanders say the mana, or spiritual power, of a moai lived in its eyes.

Did You Know? The statue was brought to Washington in 1886 by the crew of the navy ship Mohican, whose officers made the first careful survey of Easter Island's monuments.