Easter Island

Before this project, I knew little to no information on Easter Island. All that I
knew, was that it was a Island that was abandoned and it was a mystery, so I
thought it was a perfect topic. But, now that I’ve done research I am an expert.
First off the location of Easter Island, it covers 63.17 miles of the South
Pacific Ocean. It is approximately 2,180 miles west of Chili’s coast. Easter Island
is different from different island because it doesn’t have good soil for farming.
Compared to the Galapagos Island​s and the Islands of Hawaii, the farming quality
is horrible.
There are many different versions of what happened to all the people on
Easter Island, but it is hard to tell which one is true. One story is, a very small
amount of Polynesians went to Easter Island hundreds of years ago, and settled
down. Polynesians are people who come from polynesia. Polynesia is a huge
triangular area in in the pacific ocean. The top of the triangle is at the Hawaiian
islands, and the two base points are at New Zealand and Easter island. The
population grew, and as it got bigger and bigger, islanders would burn down trees
to clear away spaces to build houses. Now, clearly no one can live without trees
and soon people began to die. It was said that Captain James Hook went to Easter
island in 1774, his crew counted 700 Islanders.
However, fossil hunters stated that there isn’t any proof of Islanders burning
down trees, they blame rats. They also said that Islanders used rats and fish as their
main meat source. Even though they had rats and fish to eat, life was still tough
because of the bad farming soil. Over time, they found a way to grows at least a
little bit of crops. They would take broken stones and scatter them across the dirt,
as the wind blew them and tumbled them around, the minerals from the rock would
go into the earth below. That would give it just enough nutrients to grow some
plants.That being said, How did they all die? Well, professors say that the
population declines because of ​diseases, like syphilis and smallpox, transmitted
from the Europeans when they came in 1722. But, it still remains a mystery why
and when these people left their native land.
 After the island was abandoned, researchers found 887 ​moai ​(meaning
statues) on the island, one giant statue for each family on the island. They were
made with basalt picks and carved out of a material called tuff, which is
compressed volcanic ash. The tuff came from an extinct volcano b y the name of
Rano Raraku. However, 14 of the ​moai​ were made of basalt. The ​moai​ have long
noses, wide chins, rectangular ears, Heavy eyebrows, and deep eyes. Many people,
and scientists, believed there were only carved heads, but in May of 2012 during
excavations it was discovered that the bodies of the heads were just under the
ground. Also, it was believed that the ​moai​ were bigger the later they were built.
The biggest one is 33 feet tall and weighs 90 U.S. tons. However there is an
unfinished statue that is half buried in the island that, due to scientific calculations,
would be 70 feet tall and weigh approximately 297 U.S. tons. There is also one
unique ​moai ​on the island, its name is Tukuturi. It is unique because of it kneeling
position, more human like height, and different material, a rock called Red Puna
Pua Stone.
There are only a few ​moai​ that have their backs turned to the ocean.
Because of that, it is believed that they were built to “protect” or watch over the
people of Easter island. But, others believe that the ​moai ​were built to honor dead
ancestors so that they would never be forgotten.
The culture of Easter Island still is being kept alive today. The people of
Easter Island still have original language, music, and dancing. Some other concepts
that are being kept alive are the battle between two women for the title of queen of
Easter Island for the rest of the year.