Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated
volcanic ashVolcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
, or
tuffTuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. - Volcanic ash :The products of a volcanic eruption are...
, and located on the lower slopes of
TerevakaMaunga Terevaka is the largest, tallest and youngest of three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui...
in the
Rapa Nui National ParkRapa Nui National Park is a World Heritage Site located on Easter Island, Chile. The park is divided into seven sections:*Rano Kau *Puna Pau ....
on
Easter IslandEaster Island ; is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile annexed in 1888, Easter Island is widely famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai , created by the early Rapanui people...
. It was a
quarryA quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel...
for about 500 years until the early eighteenth century, and supplied the stone from which about 95% of the island's known monolithic sculptures (
moaiMoai or mo‘ai are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter...
) were carved. Rano Raraku is a visual record of moai design vocabulary and technological innovation, where 397 moai remain.
Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated
volcanic ashVolcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
, or
tuffTuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. - Volcanic ash :The products of a volcanic eruption are...
, and located on the lower slopes of
TerevakaMaunga Terevaka is the largest, tallest and youngest of three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui...
in the
Rapa Nui National ParkRapa Nui National Park is a World Heritage Site located on Easter Island, Chile. The park is divided into seven sections:*Rano Kau *Puna Pau ....
on
Easter IslandEaster Island ; is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile annexed in 1888, Easter Island is widely famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai , created by the early Rapanui people...
. It was a
quarryA quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel...
for about 500 years until the early eighteenth century, and supplied the stone from which about 95% of the island's known monolithic sculptures (
moaiMoai or mo‘ai are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter...
) were carved. Rano Raraku is a visual record of moai design vocabulary and technological innovation, where 397 moai remain. Rano Raraku is in the
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...
of Rapa Nui National Park and gives its name to one of the seven sections of the park.
Physical description
The sides of Rano Raraku crater are high and steep except on the north and northwest, where they are much lower and gently sloping. The interior contains one of the island's three freshwater
crater lakeA Crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater, such as a maar, or in a caldera. Sometimes the latter are called Caldera lakes, but often this distinction is not made...
s, which is bordered by
nga'atu or totoraTotora is a subspecies of the giant bulrush sedge. It is found in South America - notably on Lake Titicaca - and on Easter island in the Pacific Ocean...
reeds. These plants, once thought as evidence of contact with the South American mainland, are now known to have been growing on the island for at least 30,000 years and were used by the
RapanuiThe Rapanui or Rapa Nui are the native Polynesian inhabitants of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean . Today, Rapanui people make up 60% of Easter Island's population. They speak the Rapa Nui language...
for thatched shelter and swimming aids.
Incomplete moai in the quarry
The incomplete statues in the quarry are remarkable both for their number, for the inaccessibility of some that were high on the outside crater wall and for the size of the largest; at 21.6 m (71 feet) in height, almost twice that of any moai ever completed and weighing an estimated 270 tonnes, many times the weight of any transported.
Some of the incomplete moai seem to have been abandoned after the carvers encountered inclusions of very hard rock in the material.
Others may be sculptures that were never intended to be separated from the rock in which they are carved.
Standing moai at Ranu Raraku
On the outside of the quarry are a number of moai, some of which are partially buried to their shoulders in the spoil from the quarry. They are distinctive in that their eyes were not hollowed out, they do not have pukao and they were not cast down in the island's civil wars. For this last reason, they supplied some of the most famous images of the island.
Tukuturi
Tukuturi is an unusual moai. Its beard and kneeling posture distinguish it from standard moai.
Tukuturi is made of red
scoriaScoria is a textural term for macrovesicular volcanic rock. It is commonly, but not exclusively, basaltic or andesitic in composition. Scoria is light as a result of numerous macroscopic ellipsoidal vesicles, but most scoria has a specific gravity greater than 1, and sinks in water. The...
from
Puna PauPuna Pau is a quarry in a small crater or cinder cone on the outskirts of Hanga Roa in the south west of Easter Island...
, but sits at Rano Raraku, the
tuffTuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. - Volcanic ash :The products of a volcanic eruption are...
quarry. It is possibly related to the
Tangata manuThe Tangata manu , was the winner of a traditional competition on Rapa Nui . The ritual was an annual competition to collect the first Sooty Tern egg of the season from the islet of Motu Nui, swim back to Rapa Nui and climb the sea cliff of Rano Kau to the clifftop village of Orongo.-Myth:In the...
cult, in which case it would be one of the last moai ever made.
Further reading
- P.E. Baker (1968) "Preliminary Account of Recent Geological Investigations on Easter Island." Geological Magazine 104 (2): 116-122
- J.R. Flenley, S.M. King, J.T. Teller, M.E. Prentice, J. Jackson and C. Chew (1991). "The Late Quaternary Vegetational and Climatic History of Easter Island." Journal of Quaternary Science 6:85-115.
- Jo Anne Van Tilburg (1994). "Easter Island Archaeology, Ecology and Culture." London and Washington, D.C. British Museum Press and Smithsonian Institution Press ISBN 0-7141-2504-0 http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/eisp/
- Katherine Routledge
Katherine Maria Routledge, née Pease was a British archaeologist who initiated the first true survey of Easter Island....
. 1919. The Mystery of Easter Island. The story of an expedition. London.