Moai on platform (ahu)

 Moai on platform (Hoa Hakananai'a). Rapa Nui (Easter Island). c. 1100–1600 C.E. Volcanic tuff gures on basalt base.

• Easter Island is famous for its stone statues of human figures, known as moai (meaning “statue”).
• The island is known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui. The moai were probably carved to commemorate important ancestors until the second half of the seventeenth century.
• Over a few hundred years the inhabitants of this remote island quarried, carved and erected around 887 moai. The size and complexity of the moai increased over time. 
• It is one of only fourteen moai made from basalt, the rest are carved from the island’s softer volcanic tuff. 
• It would have stood with giant stone companions, their backs to the sea, keeping watch over the island. Its eyes sockets were originally inlaid with red stone and coral and the sculpture was painted with red and white designs. 
• It has a heavy eyebrow ridge, elongated ears and oval nostrils. The clavicle is emphasized, and the nipples protrude. The arms are thin and lie tightly against the body; the hands are hardly indicated.
• The sculpture was probably commissioned by a high status individual.
• It is carved out of dark grey basalt—a hard, dense, fine-grained volcanic rock.
• He has a prominent eyebrow ridge shadowing the empty sockets of his eyes. The nose is long and straight, ending in large oval nostrils. The thin lips are set into a downward curve, giving the face a stern, uncompromising expression. 
• The jawline is well defined and massive, and the ears are long, beginning at the top of the head and ending with pendulous lobes.
• The figure's back is covered with ceremonial designs believed to have been added at a later date, some carved in low relief, others incised.
• This sculpture bears witness to the loss of confidence in the efficacy of the ancestors after the deforestation and ecological collapse.