what are these things called?

I know on some island theres giant stone statues of faces but I can't find the name of giant statues. the only picture I have is the image used on the front of this forum:



can someone please tell me the name of these things

Thos statues are located on Easter Island. Here's the first link I found when I googled the island.

www.sscnet.ucla.edu...

thanks this is excatly what I was looking for

Well, for anyone else who is curious and doesnt want to link dive, their called Moai heads.

All I have to say is, finally, someone around here has a developed a sense of good taste in art.

Does anyone know why they were created? I was told aliens maybe.

Easter Island......... monoliths.

The structures look out to the sea, and were topped with 'crowns/hats', perhaps signifying regal/mythological characteristics. From that, there is good room for speculation. Alas, it remains speculation.

I'm sure you chaps know enough to enlighten me on why/how the statues on Easter Island were constucted?

I've heard various answers from a calender to a time traveling machine from my buddies. Can someone w/ some brains fill me in...Thanks.

One odvious use of the Moai heads would be to spook potential invaders. Combined with bonfires/primitive pyrotech I'm sure they cast off some bizarre shadows, probably had some ceremonial drums going as well.

For sure, i agree.
They probably were used to help the natives there return to their island if they were out fishing or something... If the island is relatively flat i think that would be a major purpose for the big heads. If it isnt, then just ignore everything i said. lol.

Most firsthand information from the Rapanui (natives) say that the stones were carved to honor ancestors (I remember something about royalty/upper class practicing body modification in the form of stretching their earlobes):
www.pacificislandtravel.com...

Wikipedia is your friend. An old article on the Moai is here:
en.wikipedia.org...

The most up-to-date information is here:
en.wikipedia.org...

I also wonder if stone carvings became popular AFTER the natives of the island used up all the trees?
Maybe?

As I recall from memery, Easter Island went through several political changes. On of which was the statue builders. When the trees were used up there was another revalution and the statue builders were out.
Interesting to note, there hats weighed 16 tons

Does anyone know the true meaning to these statues? Ive been told a couple of things. 1st they are like tombstones the 2nd they are like bearing guides for seamen can someone enlighten me?

They might have been to honor men lost at sea, or to help sailors find their way home. Easter islanders were accomplished seamen, and were building and constructing seaworthy vessels before many of their contemporaries, if memory serves.

The theory of intimidation of enemy fleets is an intersting one, something I never thought about, but I think that the remoteness of the island would tend to discount the possibility of invaders.

My favority Easter Island destination is the unfinished statues, lying prone in the rock face of inland cliffs. It's fascinating to see the works in progress.

There's a lot of material available on Easter Island, most of it based in fact, with just a hint of speculation.

Once saw a show on discovery that stated that the stone used for the heads was from another island and the whole time the show was trying to explain how the heck the villagers got the stone to the island. It's always interesting to wonder how they could've built the darn things and their hats or crowns. I also wonder how they lifted the hat unto the head

[edit on 27-3-2005 by thegreat59]

Anyone saw the movie Rapa Nui (I think)? It shows theory how, and why they built the statues and during the proces they destroyed all trees on island causing ecological disaster=extiinction.

I read that whole statues buried under the ground, and only the heads were visible. And that they would rise to defend the people living on the island when the time came that they really needed it...

I wonder why they still haven't started digging them up?

The statues were carved on Rapa Nui, lots of the unfinished work is still laying in the quarries where it was cut from.

Their function is generally understood to be as a form of metaphor of authority, although whether that's discharged through ancestors, or the 'sprit world', would appear to still be in dispute.

There is a common supposition that the island was deforested to provide sufficient timber to allow the statues to be moved into place, both as trackways, and scaffold.

Around the time that the ecosystem crashed, the birdman cult began to rise - this was accompanied by petroglyphs, some of which are quite sinister, and show a crouching man with a beak. They are generally held in high regard as high quality examples of Pacific petroglyphs.

Background on this stuff is here (and plenty of other places no doubt).

www.easterislandstatueproject.org...
www.crystalinks.com...
www.bradshawfoundation.com...