Easter Islanders carve first moai

1100

On the tiny volcanic island in the eastern Pacific, Rapa Nui stoneworkers began quarrying tuff from the slopes of Rano Raraku and raising stylized ancestor figures on stone platforms along the coast. The carving, rolling, and erecting of moai would continue for three centuries. Some statues eventually weighed over eighty tonnes, their coral-and-obsidian eyes gazing inland to watch over the settlements of their descendants.