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Over a millennium ago Easter Island, one of the most remote places in the world, became a destination for passengers of a double hull canoe. In the next few hundred years an amazing civilization grew all alone there. For a yet unknown reason they used volcanic rock out of which to carve gargantuan statues. People are amazed when they see or hear about these monuments called moai. The people there went by the name Rapa Nui. What was the identity of these people and what happened to them? Despite much research and debunking of wilder theories, there remain a lot of questions. Science supports one of the strangest theories as to the origins of the Easter Island people. In the 16th century a Spanish vessel named San Lesmems disappeared in the vicinity of Tahiti. Polynesians in the area, it is said, intermarried with some of the Basque survivors. Either the survivors themselves or their children set off to return home to Spain in 1600, but were never again seen. When tested Rapa Nui people showed the presence of Basque genes. Easter Island is most renowned for inhabitants that are its huge stone statues, moai, at least 288 once standing on gigantic stone platforms named ahu. There are approximately 250 ahu platforms about one half mile apart in a nearly unbroken perimeter line all around the island. 600 incomplete moai statues can be found near the rocks where they were carved, or laying on roads apparently having been on their way to the coast to be placed on an ahu. Almost every moai is chiseled from volcanic stone from Rano Raraku. These statues average 14 tons in weight and nearly 14 feet tall. Some of the larger ones top 33 feet high and weigh 80 tons, but one was found that was 65 feet high, still not fully carved from the rock, and would have weighed nearly 300 tons when completely finished. They were dragged to shore by 50-150 men, depending on the size of the statue, with logs used as rollers. Scientists who study Easter Island can't decisively determine the purpose of these moai statues. Local practices may have evolved the idea of statue use seen on other Polynesian islands to the unique needs of the people of Easter Island.
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