April 11, 2015
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Nanoblock - Moai Statues of Easter Island
One of the gifts my sibling gave me from Christmas. I just got around to building it. The Moai Statues of Easter Island set is not too difficult to build and not too complex. It does require making 3 Moai heads.
These monolithic statues can be as tall as 33 ft. and as heavy as 86 tons. They were original carved from volcanic rock by colonizers of the Polynesian island between 1250 CE and 1500 CE. There's not much else written on the packing about the the Moai Statues, so I read up on the subject.
It is not known exactly how these statues were moved across the island from the origin of the volcanic rock they got it from and were remnants of these statues are located now. The Rapa Nui created them to represent deceased ancestors and former chiefs. Some time later in their civilization, the Rapa Nui lost order when they completely cut down all trees in the island. They could not build boats for fishing and food became scarce. Various tribes started fighting each other and toppled down statues of rival clans.
Today, about 50 of the 887 statues are intact and have been re-erected at the preservation site. 11 Moai statues have been removed from Easter Island and shipped to various museums and installations around the world to show this mysterious relic with a tragic connection to the now extinct Rapa Nui civilization.
I'm done.
Comments (1)
I have always found the Maoi statues of Easter Island to be fascinating. Some have hats, most don't. Plus, a few years ago, an excavation found massive bodies for these heads deep beneath the Earth.