Easter Island: the extraordinary discovery of a rare statue by scientists

On Easter Island, a moai statue was discovered in a dried-up lake in the crater of a volcano, said Aboriginal community Ma’u Henua, which runs the island’s national park.

An exceptional find. On February 21, a famous Moai statue from Easter Island was discovered in a dried-up lagoon. An amazing find because the statue is in perfect condition.

“This is a truly unique find, as it is the first time moai have been discovered within Lake Rano Raraku crater,” Ma’u Henua, who manages the national park, said in a press release. The volcano is located.

The indigenous community believed that this discovery could open up new perspectives on the history of the island.

Moai were discovered by a team of scientists from three Chilean universities. The latter is working with the National Forest Service (CONAF) to restore the wetlands located in the crater of the Rano Raraku volcano, which were damaged by a fire last October.

Moai perfectly preserved

“This moai is in the middle of a lake that started to dry up in 2018,” explained Ninoska Avareipua Huki Cuadros, Ma’u Henua Community Manager.

“What’s interesting is that for at least 200 or 300 years, the lake was three meters deep, so no human could have left that moai there,” she said.

The moai, which measured 1.60 metres, was found lying on its side, “with a full body and recognizable but not clearly defined features,” says Ma’u Henua, who are “seeking funding to conduct an in-depth study of this find.”

Isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 3,500 km from the Chilean coast, Easter Island, of Polynesian culture, is famous throughout the world for its impressive megaliths of mysterious origin, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Some statues can reach 9 meters in height and weigh several tens of tons.