The recent discovery of the moai’s true builders comes not long after scientists from Binghamton University and the ...

Unfinished moai attached to bedrock by “keels” along their backs demonstrate how carvers worked underneath from both sides until figures were separated from the source material. This production stage, ...

Archaeologists studied hundreds of unfinished stone heads in a quarry on Easter Island to better understand how they were constructed and the society that made them.

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is often portrayed in popular culture as an enigma. The rationale is clear: The tiny, ...

Mapping of the main quarry on Easter Island where giant statues were carved has uncovered evidence that the monuments may not ...

Easter Island’s Rapa Nui statues were carved by several independent groups, including competing families, without any central authority overseeing them, according to a new study. At such a critical ...

A sweeping 3D analysis of Rapa Nui’s main moai quarry shows that the island’s iconic statues weren’t produced by a single ruling authority, but by many small, independent groups working simultaneously ...

Scholars have long debated how the massive stone figures of Rapa Nui got to where they stand today. A new study offers one ...

New data challenges the conventional narrative that humans were the main cause of deforestation on this remote Pacific ...

A groundbreaking study published in October 2025 has confirmed that the iconic moai statues of Easter Island were moved into place by “walking” them upright using ropes. This discovery resolves a long ...

Maybe this isn't a newsflash to everyone, but the Moai "heads" on Easter Island have bodies. Because some of the statues are set deep into the ground, and because the heads on the statues are ...

A new study sheds light on one of archaeology’s most mysterious questions: how the ancient inhabitants of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) moved their legendary stone moai statues. The findings were published ...