Tagged “island”
HIGH WONDERThe Moai of Rapa Nui
How did a small Polynesian island society carve, move, and raise nearly 900 multi-tonne stone figures, some over 80 tonnes, across miles of rugged terrain without wheels, metal tools, or draft animals?
c. 1250-1500 CE · Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Valparaíso Region, ChileAdded July 2026
HIGH WONDERRano Raraku
Why are roughly half of all the moai ever carved still standing in the quarry that made them — abandoned partway to somewhere else, or deliberately raised on the spot they were born?
c. 1250-1500 CE for the main period of carving, with quarrying continuing into roughly the early 1700s · Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Valparaíso Region, ChileAdded August 2026