Key Info

- Monolithic stone figures of deified ancestors of the Rapa Nui people

- The Moai were a central component of the Moai Sect

Brief Bio

Moai are monolithic human figures carved from stone by the Rapa Nui people, on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads, which account for three-eighths of the size of the whole statue. They also have no legs. The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna). Although the stone moai are the most famous, the Rapa Nui also carved small wooden moai: moꞌai kavakava (male), moꞌai paepae/papa (female), and moꞌai taŋata (male).