Easter Island: New Moai statue found
Easter Island
Rapa Nui in Chile, also known as Easter Island, has a new Moai statue.
The holy monument, which is smaller than the rest of the island’s structures was found buried in a lake bed that had dried up.
Although this area isn’t usually accessible to the public, archaeologists were able to explore it due to weather-related conditions.
Nearly 1,000 monumental statues, known as moai or Rapa Nui, are still standing on Easter Island. They were built by the Rapa Nui early settlers. The 33-foot tallest moai statue is located on Easter Island. They weigh between three and five tons on average, but can be as heavy as 80 tons.
Salvador Atan Hito (vice president of Ma’u Henua) said that just when everyone thought there was nothing else to see on the island, a new statue of the moai was discovered.
An Easter Island crater holds a newly discovered Moai statue. Photo by Good Morning America.
Ma’u Henua, the indigenous organization responsible for the island’s national parks, is home to the Rapa Nui native people.
Salvador Atan Hito, who oversees the site, said that it was “very, very important for the Rapa Nui people.” It’s in the lake, and nobody knows about it — even our grandparents, our ancestors don’t know.
Terry Hunt, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona, said that while we think we have all the moai, then another one appears. This is the first time that moai have been found in the dry lake bed, or in an old lake.
Now, archaeologists are on a mission to find out more about the site. They will be looking for evidence of moai and tools that could have been used in creating them.
Hunt explained that they have been obscured by tall reeds in the lake bed. Prospecting with a tool that can detect the underside of the ground may reveal that there are more moai in lakebed sediments. Hunt stated, “When there is one moai in a lake, it’s likely that there are many more.”
checkout:
1 thought on “Easter Island: New Moai statue found”