Easter Island Statue Project Official Website » Research Documents

Makemake Rock Art Motifs

EISP Staff — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:53:37 +0000

Ahu Vinapu: Moai 02-210-004

EISP Staff — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:22:19 +0000

(left) This statue illustrates the ceremonial use of a fallen moai into historic time. The site was excavated by W. Mulloy and reported in the published papers of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition. Although there were some anomalies in the descriptions of the statues, Mulloy’s team also produced a conjectural reconstruction view of the statues standing […]

Statues Along Transport Roads

EISP Staff — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:43:35 +0000

In 2006-2007, EISP resurveyed the statues along the “transport roads” and updated the visual documentation record for each statue. This new data was used to create a more accurate map that shows unique statue details.

Statue Shape Variation

EISP Staff — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:04:50 +0000

Statue type category examples. ©EISP/JVT/Drawing: Cristián Arévalo Pakarati.

Moai Paro Digital Reconstruction

EISP Staff — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:15:56 +0000

Moai Paro (30-220-001) is the tallest (989 cm) statue ever successfully raised upright on a ceremonial platform. It weighs approximately 82 m tons and wore a red scoria pukao (30-220-004) that added another 11-12 m tons of weight to the statue. Previously investigated by C. Smith and W. Mulloy, we documented it first in 1984 […]

Ahu O’Pepe 20-001

EISP Staff — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:31:16 +0000

RELATED RECORD: Two moai removed from Ahu O’Pepe are currently at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.

Getting the Picture: Archaeological Inventory, Database Imagery, and Preservation of Easter Island Statues

Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Ph.D. — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:44:56 +0000

This is a condensed and edited version of an address given at the Getty Conservation Institute in October, 2004. Introduction The Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) is an archaeological inventory designed to locate and document every monolithic stone sculpture (moai) on Rapa Nui. Our research purpose is to amass large quantities of objective data in […]

Statue Material & Base Shape Distribution Histograms

EISP Staff — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:14:14 +0000

Statue Distribution Map

EISP Staff — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:58:19 +0000

Distribution of monolithic statue sites relative to Routledge’s (1919) kin group divisions. Computer drafting by Gordon Hull. From Easter Island Archaeology, Ecology and Culture by Jo Anne Van Tilburg. London: British Museum Press and Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.

Ahu Tangi Uka

EISP Staff — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:24:57 +0000

moai from the top of its head in the foreground, with Johannes Van Tilburg sketching in the background. ©2002 EISP/JVT/Photo: Alice Hom. " title="" />This is a small ahu located within the defined boundary of “inland” sites (more than 150 m inland). It is on private land and not accessible to the public. One large moai is present on the site. The platform itself is perfunctory, with only a single course of upright stones forming the rear wall.