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Easter
Island's large and mysterious stone statues (雕像) have made it world famous. These statues,
whose likenesses look like humans with huge stone cylinders (圆筒状物) balancing on their heads like hats, have tourists coming from all over
the world. The tourists come to see these works of ancient art carved by the early
inhabitants of the island. They come to see the mystery that has puzzled historians
for decades.
Easter
Island is located in a remote part of the South Pacific Ocean about 2,300 miles
west of Chile. Easter Island covers just 45 square miles and its Polynesian name
is Rapa Nui.
On
Easter Sunday 1722, a Dutch explorer named Jacob Roggeveen was the first European
to see Easter Island. The early Polynesians carved the statues within the holes
of the volcano using only stone tools. Then they moved these huge statues to various
destinations throughout the island. These 600 statues range in height from 10 to
40 feet. Some of them weigh as much as 50 tons. How could the early Polynesians
lift hundreds of heavy statues out of the volcano? How did they move them across
the island to their various locations? All of these questions, as well as many others,
remain unanswered.
The
early islanders probably worshiped (崇拜) these eyeless giants until sometime around 1670. In 1680, a war broke
out between two groups of islanders. The victors of the war and ancestors of the
present inhabitants, broke down many of the statues. In most cases, they broke the
necks of the statues.
Now
15 of the statues on Easter Island have been repaired to their original positions
on their stone platforms. Even today, using modern tools and machinery, putting
up such large statues and balancing cylinders on top of their heads presents a challenging
task.
