Maunga Puna Pau is a small crater or

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...

and prehistoric

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

on the outskirts of

Hanga Roa Hanga Roa (; rap, Haŋa Roa, Rapa Nui pronunciation: �ha.ŋa ˈɾo.a (Spanish: ''Bahía Larga'') is the main town, harbour and seat of Easter Island, a municipality of Chile. It is located in the southern part of the island's west coast, in th ...

in the south west of

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an island in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

). Puna Pau gives its name to one of the seven regions of the

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 ...

. Puna Pau was the sole source of the red

scoria Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock that was ejected from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains or clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) ''G ...

that the prehistoric

Rapanui 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 ...

used to carve the

pukao Pukao are the hat-like structures or topknots formerly placed on top of some moai statues on Easter Island. They were all carved from a very light-red volcanic scoria, which was quarried from a single source at Puna Pau. Symbolism Pukao were not ...

(topknots) that they put on the heads of some of their iconic

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 ...

statues. The stone from Puna Pau was also used for ahu facia blocks and a non-standard moai found in front of one of the ahu at Vinapu. It was not, ''contra'' Wikipedia, used to fashion the crouching moai Tukuturi at Rano Raraku, which is of Rano Raraku tuff. Archaeological excavations were carried out at Puna Pau between 2009 and 2013 by members of the UK Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project team. The photo shown here is of the re-erected moai on Ahu Kote Riku, part of the Tahai ceremonial complex, not Ahu Tahai, and the topknot is not the original of Puna Pau red scoria, which is now in Hanga Roa cemetery, but a replacement made of red scoria from another location.Claudio Cristino pers. comm.

Brochure

Image:Puna Pau brochure-2.jpg, Inside of park brochure for Puna Pau (in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

) Image:Puna Pau brochure-1.jpg, Outside of park brochure for Puna Pau (in English)

References

Geography of Easter Island Cinder cones of Chile Archaeological sites in Easter Island Rock art of Oceania {{Oceania-archaeology-stub