RANO RARAKU

This impressive volcano, which corresponds to the quarry where the moai were made, is one of the highlights of any visit to Rapa Nui. The quantity of moai that you will see is staggering: hence the interest, perhaps, in visiting this site last. To get there, you take the path of the moai, or the sentinels. On the slopes of the volcano lie 397 moai, including a group of about 70 sentinels that seem to watch over the island. Two of these moai are totally different, as they are kneeling on their heels: the position of the sailors on the pirogues! We will then see the largest moai ever carved, which reaches nearly 21 m in length. Some of the moai were abandoned during the carving process, which allows us to distinguish the two techniques used. Either the statue was carved directly into the rock, or the sculptors isolated a block of stone in a cave by digging galleries around it. A sort of mooring line held the statue with its back against the wall and when the first carving was completed, this umbilical cord was blown up and the statue was freed to be finished.
The workers were paid in food. Small moai corresponded to small villages, and large moai to large villages; the size of the harvests made it possible to continue the work (the workers did not work without being fed), and the larger villages, which had more land, could afford the luxury of a more costly work in terms of manpower, and therefore more excessive. If the crops were not sufficient to feed the workers, the work was postponed for a year. In the same way, other factors presided over the continuation of these incredible tasks: if the Pleiades were not favourable, i.e. if their position was not favourable, they did not work. The sculpture of the statues was always started from the head. Once the work was finished, the statues were placed on a stone bed and slid down; numerous embankments slowed down their course. At the bottom, a small ditch was made to straighten the work; it was then pulled with a cord to finish the back. The statues were not taken out of the quarry until the chief died. Sometimes, of course, the statues broke during the cutting, or during the descent, or when they were lifted, or when they were transported, or even when they were raised to their intended place! At the top of the Rano Raraku volcano, you will be able to contemplate a lagoon of about 3 m deep.