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The number of beef cattle has grown over the last decade or so. This puts a strain on water but also provides local meat. Horses are common though they seem to be decreasing in number. Here they hang out near a historic well (puna) built on the site of an ancient Puna. #rapanui

submitted 13 hours ago • 0 comments

A hare moa (chicken house) on the north coast near Ahu Pu’a Pau. Poike in the background. #rapanui

submitted 13 hours ago • 0 comments

Ahu Pu’a Pau on the north coast looking to Poike.

submitted 13 hours ago • 0 comments

Ahu Tongariki from the east. #rapanui

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

South coast past Ahu Akahanga and near Ahu Opipiri.#Rapanui

submitted 15 hours ago • 0 comments

A puna (well) in the south coast. The structure on the slope is a recent structure but built on the location of an ancient well. You can see the ramp leading form to the water. Up on the ridge is an ahu. #rapanui

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Live from the west coast near Ahu Te Niu and Ahu Te Peu. #rapanui

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Sunset from Hanga Roa #rapanui

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Nighthawks at the diner. #rapanui

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

William Mulloy arrived on Rapa Nui with Heyerdahl in 1955. He then spent decades doing research and restoring ahu on the island. He supported Rapa Nui students at the University of Wyoming. To honor him he has a memorial on the island with some of his remains at Tahai. #rapanui

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Almost-made-it-but-whoops road moai at Tahai…. #rapanui

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Early red scoria moai head at Tahai. Note the eye sockets and round head. #rapanui

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Mobile field station, south coast #rapanui

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Ahu Mahiha . South coast. #rapanui

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

South coast Rapa Nui looking towards Poike. #rapanui

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

The fabled white canoe of Rapa Nui! #rapanui

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Classic face. If all goes well I’ll be able to post some up to the second photos of RN starting tomorrow afternoon. Just a couple of flights to go… #rapanui

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Sunset over the ocean from Hanga Roa #rapanui

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Slumbering giant. #rapanui

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Moai carving in the interior of the crater. #rapanui

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

This is an odd one. It’s a road moai (no eye sockets) that fell during transport. Attempts were made to re-erect it by digging a pit under the base. There are other examples of this. Ultimately this failed and it was abandoned in the pit. Now the pit is filled and just the head is visible. #rapanui

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Ahu Nau Nau… red scoria pukao on the moai and red scoria lintels decorating the Ahu.

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Taheta features (rainwater collection basins) carved in the tip of Maunga Toa Toa, a small volcanic feature along the moai roads leading from Rano Raraku. #rapanui

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Basalt handaxes (toki) from Rano Raraku. These are the tools that people used to carve the moai from the volcanic tuff. No lasers needed. #rapanui

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

The palm trees of Rapa Nui are extinct but were related to Jubaea chilensis, the Chilean wine palm. These large palms take ca 70 years to fruit. They are not useful for making canoes as they are monocots and related to grasses. People cleared them for cultivation. Rats finished them. #rapanui

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

This moai at Rano Raraku was brought to the base of the slope and stood upright to be finished. It still has the remnants of the keel that attached it to the bedrock. You can see that in the lack of shoulders and thick neck. #rapanui

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Vaihu on the south coast. This bay has a big source of fresh water that seeps from the subsurface. #rapanui

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Combine the rainfall factor with temperature tolerances for Polynesian food crops and it quickly becomes apparent why Rapa Nui was fueled by sweet potato.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

If you’ve wondered why sweet potato was the dominant Rapa Nui crop out of all the Polynesian food choices (well, it’s the kind of thing I ponder) this figure is a helpful guide. Yams were likely also prominent.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

A subtle trace of a moai road along the south coast. #rapanui

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

An early moai from Ahu Nau Nau. Early moai are wildly variable. This one is made of basalt and was found in two pieces. Note the eye sockets, hands, and interesting headdress or hat like feature. #rapanui.

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

While most people know Rapa Nui moai from the “heads” in the quarry or the standing reconstructed ones at Tongariki, most ahu moai look like this. Toppled. Note that European observations point to many statues standing until the mid 19th century. #rapanui

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

A badly weathered early moai fragment that became rubble in an ahu. #rapanui

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Toppled moai and its pukao. Ahu Te Pitu Kora. #rapanui

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

This pukao shows the shallow indentation that was carved on the bottom. The indentation fits the top of the head of the moai. Its presence suggested that the final reshaping of the moai was also part of pukao placement. orb.binghamton.edu/anthropology... #rapanui

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

Renderings of houses on Rapa Nui from Thomson’s 1868 visit in the USS Mohican. #rapanui

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Slumbering moai. #rapanui

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

A small moai near the shore at Ahu Akahanga. #rapanui

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Manavai - round walled gardens that were used to grow bananas, sugar cane, taro and other plants that needed protection from the wind and added nutrients. These are often located next to the entrance of a cave or shelter which stabilized the temperature and may have served for storage. #tapanui

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

With all the nuttiness in the US today, isn't it great that moai are peering up from the past to provide us the perspective that all things will pass? #rapanui

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Toppled and worn: moai fragment on the south shore. #rapanui

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Check out the size of pukao. These are monstrously large hats made of red scoria that sat on top of ginormous statues. #rapanui

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

The large blocks of some ahu as seen here represent what appears to be an early style. These predate the construction of platforms on which moai were later stood. #rapanui

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

The massive moai (“Paro”) at Ahu Te Pito Kura and its pukao. #Rapanui

submitted 34 days ago • 0 comments

Moai profile at Ahu Akahanga. #rapanui

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

These carved basins come from sharpening basalt adzes but also serve as taheta — rainwater catchments #rapanui

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

One interesting feature of some pukao found near ahu is the carving of a “ledge” around the outside surface. The ledge is curved so it’s not for carving lintels. It could be for finishing a smaller pukao but the shapes are limited to just a portion. I’m sure they are telling us something. #rapanui

submitted 36 days ago • 1 comment

Here's a fantastic photo. This moai was found in 2013 in the now-dry lakebed of Rano Raraku. Climate change has resulted in dramatic rainfall changes, leading to the drying up of the lake. #rapanui