Ahu Tongariki () is the largest ahu on Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Its moais were toppled during the island's civil wars, and in the twentieth century the ahu was swept inland by a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

. It has since been restored and has fifteen

moai Moai or moʻai ( ; es, moái; rap, moʻai, , statue) are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island, Rapa Nui in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main mo ...

, including one that weighs eighty-six tonnes, the heaviest ever erected on the island. Ahu Tongariki is one kilometer from

Rano Raraku Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed of consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, and located on the lower slopes of Terevaka in the Rapa Nui National Park on Easter Island in Chile. It was a quarry for about 500 years until the early eighteenth cent ...

and

Poike Poike is one of the three main extinct volcanoes that form Rapa Nui (Easter Island), a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. At 370 metres above sea level, Poike's peak is the island's second-highest point after the peak of the extinct volcano T ...

in the

Hotu-iti Hotu-iti (also, "Tongariki territory") is an area of southeastern Easter Island that takes its name from a local clan. Located in Rapa Nui National Park, the area includes Rano Raraku crater, the Ahu Tongariki site, and a small bay. In the 15th an ...

area of

Rapa Nui National Park Rapa Nui National Park ( es, Parque nacional Rapa Nui) is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located on Easter Island, Chile. Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name of Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua. The island is located ...

. All the moai here face sunset during the

winter solstice The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winte ...

History

Ahu Tongariki was the main centre and capital of the

clan, the eastern confederation of the

Rapa Nui people The Rapa Nui (Rapa Nui: , Spanish: ) are the Polynesian peoples indigenous to Easter Island. The easternmost Polynesian culture, the descendants of the original people of Easter Island make up about 60% of the current Easter Island population and ...

.Fischer 2005 ''Island at the end of the world'' It's

were toppled during the island's

civil wars A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. In 1960, a

caused by an earthquake off the coast of Chile swept the ahu inland. Ahu Tongariki was substantially restored in the 1990s through the efforts of a multidisciplinary team headed by archaeologists Claudio Cristino and Patricia Vargas Casanova. The five-year project was carried out under an official agreement among the Chilean government, the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, and Japan-based crane manufacturer

Tadano Limited (commonly known as Tadano) is the main and largest Japan-based manufacturer of cranes and aerial work platforms, considered one of largest crane manufacturers in the world. History Masuo Tadano, the founder of the company, started as a steel f ...

Location

The ahu is on the southern coast of Rapa Nui near two

extinct volcanoes A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

and

. Poike is one of the three main volcanoes that form Rapa Nui. Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater formed by consolidated

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcano, volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used t ...

, or ''

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

'', from which the moai are carved. Nearly half of the hundreds of moai still lie in the main quarry on the slopes of Rano Raraku. The large, flat plain below Rano Raraku provided easy access to the tuff.

References

Katherine Routledge Katherine Maria Routledge (), née Pease (11 August 1866 – 13 December 1935), was an English archaeologist and anthropologist who, in 1914, initiated and carried out much of the first true survey of Easter Island. She was the second child o ...

(1919) ''The Mystery of Easter Island''

External links

Splendid Isolation: Art of Easter Island
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Ahu Tongariki

Easter Island Statue project

* ttp://www.radio.cz/en/article/35755 Czech who made Moai statues walk returns to Easter Island
History of Easter Island stones

Easter Island – Moai Statue Scale

University of Chile

360° Panoramas dedicated web site of Easter Island
{{Easter Island Megalithic monuments Easter Island ahu Tourist attractions in Valparaíso Region Archaeological sites in Easter Island