Researchers have found a new moai statue in a dry lake on the island of Rapa Nui in Chile, joining approximately 1,000 other iconic monolithic sculptures in what the internationally known Easter Island.
SANTIAGO, Chile — Researchers have found a new moai statue in a dry lake on the island of Rapa Nui in Chile, joining approximately 1,000 other iconic monolithic sculptures in what the internationally known Easter Island.
The statue is only 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) tall, compared to other widely displayed heads and torsos that reach 22 meters (72 feet). This was found by researchers from the University of Chile and O’Higgins University.
More statues may be found in the dry lake, which is in the center of the Rano Raraku volcano crater, said Salvador Atan Hito, vice president of the Ma ́u Henua indigenous community that manages the archaeological treasures of Rapa Nui.
The statue “is in good condition, it has wear from time, erosion, water, but its forms and features are still noticeable,” Atan told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.
“This discovery is something historic for this new generation,” he added.
About 400 of the island’s 1,000 moai are inside the volcano or on its outer slopes, and the rest are scattered over the rest of the island’s 160 square kilometers (60 square miles).
Some of the moai are known to be buried below the surface although they are left in place. However, this latest has never been cataloged before, Atan said.
The figures represent the ancestors of the Rapa Nui community, and their role is to protect the members of the community, so they are placed looking inland from the sea, Atan said.
Rapa Nui, located 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) from the continent, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. In 2019, it was renamed “Rapa Nui-Easter Island” from its previous name of Easter Island.
