Are the Rapa Nui still around?

The Land and Its People Following contact with Europeans, disease spread dangerously through the Rapa Nui population, sparing only approximately 100 individuals. But the Rapa Nui survived and today account for around 50 percent of the 7,750 people living on the island.

Why do the Easter Islanders not exist anymore?

But the most likely cause of the downfall of Rapanui society is disease brought about by slavery. According to Easter Island: The Truth Revealed, approximately 1,500 to 2,000 people – half the population – were taken in 1862 in a raid by slave traders from Peru to work there, predominately in agriculture.

How many statues are left on Easter Island?

Moai Stats She reported, “A total of 887 monolithic statues has been located by the survey to date on Easter Island… 397 are still in situ in quarries at the Rano Raraku central production center…..

What is Isla de Pascua?

Easter Island, Spanish Isla de Pascua, also called Rapa Nui, Chilean dependency in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the easternmost outpost of the Polynesian island world. It is famous for its giant stone statues.

Are there bodies under the heads on Easter Island?

As a part of the Easter Island Statue Project, the team excavated two moai and discovered that each one had a body, proving, as the team excitedly explained in a letter, “that the ‘heads’ on the slope here are, in fact, full but incomplete statues.”

Why do the Easter Island heads have bodies?

The heads had been covered by successive mass transport deposits on the island that buried the statues lower half. These events enveloped the statues and gradually buried them to their heads as the islands naturally weathered and eroded through the centuries.

What is a Moyai?

Well … moai is a type of rock carving found on Easter Island in Polynesia, dating back to the year 1250. Nii-jima is home to numerous volcanic rock carvings of large faces and heads, called Moyai, which means ‘to work together in effort’ in the local dialect.