BikerBabe
Senior Master Sergeant
I knew.
And before you all start harassing me about this, I can tell you guys that I totally loved Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl's books when I was a teenager, among them were his book "Aku-Aku - The Secret of Easter Island".
I can recommend it.
In the book, Thor Heyerdal tells of his discoveries on Easter Island, among them is the fact that the statues has got bodies.
But did you know that the Moai (as the statues are called) also had eyes and red headdresses, called a pukao?
Pukao are the hats or top knots formerly placed on top of some of the moai statues, as they are called.
They were all carved from a very light red volcanic stone - scoria, which was quarried from a single source at Puna Pau.
In 1978, a student named Sonia Haoa found fragments of worked coral and a red disk made out of scoria, the same material used to make the pukao.
When fitted together they formed an unmistakable eye.
She brought the fragments to archeologist Segio Rapu, who discovered they fit precisely in the eye socket of a moai.
So the moai did have eyes, although it is unclear if they were permanent fixtures of the statues, or placed in them only on ceremonial occasions, as is done now on the island with replicas of the eyes.
Cheers, Maria
- who once did her best as a teenager to chew her way through Thor Heyerdahl's "American Indians in the Pacific: The theory behind the Kon-Tiki Expedition" and "Archaeology on Easter Island".
And before you all start harassing me about this, I can tell you guys that I totally loved Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl's books when I was a teenager, among them were his book "Aku-Aku - The Secret of Easter Island".
I can recommend it.
In the book, Thor Heyerdal tells of his discoveries on Easter Island, among them is the fact that the statues has got bodies.
But did you know that the Moai (as the statues are called) also had eyes and red headdresses, called a pukao?
Pukao are the hats or top knots formerly placed on top of some of the moai statues, as they are called.
They were all carved from a very light red volcanic stone - scoria, which was quarried from a single source at Puna Pau.
In 1978, a student named Sonia Haoa found fragments of worked coral and a red disk made out of scoria, the same material used to make the pukao.
When fitted together they formed an unmistakable eye.
She brought the fragments to archeologist Segio Rapu, who discovered they fit precisely in the eye socket of a moai.
So the moai did have eyes, although it is unclear if they were permanent fixtures of the statues, or placed in them only on ceremonial occasions, as is done now on the island with replicas of the eyes.
Cheers, Maria
- who once did her best as a teenager to chew her way through Thor Heyerdahl's "American Indians in the Pacific: The theory behind the Kon-Tiki Expedition" and "Archaeology on Easter Island".