Easter Island Statue Project Official Website

Letters from the Director

New Moai Statue Discovered

Dear Friends of EISP,

It is often said that every dark cloud has a silver lining, and that is certainly true for Rapa Nui in 2023!

A New Find

As I reported in the recent issue of Backdirt, the annual report of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, a grass fire in the eastern portion of the island was whipped by the wind into a raging inferno that burned through Rano Raraku. The lake dried and, this past week, site monitors working with Ma’u Henua and CONAF, organizations that co-manage the Rapa Nui National Park, were stunned to find a small moai exposed among the reeds. A full and complete report was immediately filed by archaeologist Isaías Hey González.

The Moai

The moai is 1.6 m total estimated height. It is lying supine with its base toward the south. Overall, the moai is sub-rectangular in shape. A hint of the carved hands on the lower front of the torso can be seen in photos, but many details remain to be established.

The EISP Database and Archives shares all data we have collected through mapping and excavations in Rano Raraku with Ma’u Henua, CONAF, and other local agencies. This moai is now registered as number RR-0001-285 for the EISP Interior Region of Rano Raraku Quarry Zone.

What’s Next?

Ma’u Henua and CONAF as well as other involved island agencies recognize the need to stabilize the moai and protect the fragile stone from damage. Dr. Sarah Sherwood who collaborated on our excavations in Rano Raraku (Sherwood et al 2019), hopes to learn more about the immediate surroundings of the once waterlogged soils environment in which the moai was found.

 

Other Publication News

A Short History of: Easter Island – produced by Noiser Podcasts

 

Van Tilburg, J., J Huebert, S. C. Sherwood, and C. R. Barrier
2022 Pre-European Contact Sweet Potato (Ipomea batatas) at Rapa Nui: Macrobotanical Evidence from Recent Excavations in Rano Raraku Quarry, Rapa Nui. In The Prehistory of Rapa Nui (Easter Island): Towards an Integrative Interdisciplinary Framework, edited by V. Rull, and C. M. Stevenson, pp. 85-108. Springer, Cham, Switzerland.

Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D. Director, EISP | February 27th, 2023 |

Phase 2 Season 2

Easter Island Statue Project

August 12- 31, 2014

Dr. Jo Anne Van Tilburg, UCLA Project Director

Cristián Arévalo Pakarati/ Rapa Nui Project Co-director

José Miguel Ramírez A., Universidad de Valparaiso, Co-investigator

 

Introduction

This report is prepared as part of a numbered series that describes the excavations conducted by the Easter Island Statue Project in Rano Raraku Quarry Zone, Interior Region, Quarry 02, Statues RR-001-156 and RR-001-157. The team is composed of an all-Rapanui excavation staff directed by the project Co-directors. With the completion of the conservation and scientific investigations conducted by our Chilean collaborator, Monica Bahamondez P, and our UCLA collaborator Dr. Christian Fischer, we were joined this season by our new Chilean collaborator Sr. José Miguel Ramírez A., Universidad de Valparaíso. Our research agreement is contained in a Memo of Understanding between the Universidad de Valparaíso and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. This report summarizes our collections and investigations for the period beginning Monday, March 10 and ending Monday, March 14, 2014.  This report is part of a preliminary final report that includes some but not all of our in-process laboratory test results and collections analyses, as per our permit CMN ORD 5467-09. A final report will be published in 2015-2016 by the The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press.

[Read More…]

Posted on October 28th, 2014 by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D.
Categories: 2000s, AIA Partnership, Conservation Reports, EISP Excavation, Featured Articles |

Phase 2 Season 1

Easter Island Statue Project Phase 2, Season 1

August 2013

Jo Anne Van Tilburg and Cristián Arévalo P.

This report describes recent excavations beginning Phase 2 of the project and concentrating on the ventral side of Moai RR-001-156. These excavations are a continuation of limited excavations conducted on the ventral side during Phase 1, which focused on reaching the base of the statue on the dorsal side.  The excavation season commenced on August 6, 2013 and actual excavation ended on August 29, 2013. The excavation was subsequently closed to protect it from heavy rains and with the help of personnel from CONAF and CMN.

[Read More…]

Posted on October 28th, 2014 by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D.
Categories: 2000s, AIA Partnership, Conservation Reports, EISP Excavation, Featured Articles |

Phase 1 Season 6

Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) Conservation Initiative

March 2012

Jo Anne Van Tilburg and Cristián Arévalo Pakarati have accomplished an archaeological survey and inventory of the monolithic stone sculpture (moai) of Rapa Nui. To date, we have accounted for 1,300 monolithic sculptural objects within the island-wide survey sections, in museum collections, and within the Rano Raraku quarry zone, including complete (as opposed to intact) statues, heads, torsos, fragments, shaped block. The latter are considered to be evidence of human activity in the form of incomplete or abandoned projects elucidating energy investment. The most recent object entered into our collaborative on-line database (DATASHARE) is a red stone torso submitted by Enrique Tucki M. of the Oficina Provincial, the Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF).

[Read More…]

Posted on October 28th, 2014 by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D.
Categories: 2000s, AIA Partnership, Conservation Reports, EISP Excavation, Featured Articles |

Phase 1 Season 5

 

Easter Island Statue Project Conservation Initiative

Season V Excavation Summary

RR-001-156 and Square 4, RR-001-157

Jo Anne Van Tilburg

November 2011

Introduction

This report is another in a series of reports dealing with the excavation of statues RR-001-156 and RR-001-157 in Rano Raraku quarry, Rapa Nui, Chile. The previous reports were filed with the appropriate Chilean and Rapa Nui agencies and also provided to the general public on the Easter Island Statue Project web site (www.eisp.org). This report deals with the continuing excavation of statue RR-001-156 to the base and Square 4 of RR-001-157. These activities took place during Season V (November 2011) of the Easter Island Statue Project Conservation Initiative.
[Read More…]

Posted on October 28th, 2014 by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D.
Categories: 2000s, AIA Partnership, Conservation Reports, EISP Excavation, Featured Articles |