For generations, the massive moai of Easter Island, called Rapa Nui by the locals, have stood in quiet testimony to one of archaeology’s longest-standing mysteries. How did an island society, remote ...

State-of-the-art computer modeling shows the iconic monuments arose from numerous teams from different clans working independently ...

A groundbreaking new study provides compelling evidence that Easter Island's enormous moai statues were built by competing clans rather than an authority ...

Scientists believe the statues may have "walked" Toria Sheffield joined the PEOPLE editorial staff in 2024. Her work as a writer/editor has previously appeared in places like Bustle, LAMag, and ...

When the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen landed on Easter Island in 1722, he was puzzled by how the indigenous islanders could have transported the hundreds of colossal stone statues he found studding ...

The online model lets researchers and anyone with an internet connection explore areas that the island’s 100,000 annual ...

Archaeologists say a 3D model of a centuries-old quarry of unfinished stone head statues on Easter Island offers new clues about how these monuments were made and the Polynesian society that brought ...

The gargantuan heads of Easter Island may have finally tacked on an artist credit — or several, it turns out. The over 900 statues on Rapa Nui, the indigenous name for the Chilean territory, had long ...

Easter Island is famous for its giant monumental statues, called moai, built some 800 years ago and typically mounted on platforms called ahu. Scholars have puzzled over the moai on Easter Island for ...

We’re documenting something that really has needed to be documented, but in a way that’s really comprehensive and shareable.” Lipo is one of the foremost experts on the Easter Island moai. In October, ...

The mystery of the Moai stone heads has eluded onlookers for centuries — and now, researchers say they finally know how they got there. The statues, which were carved and placed on the South Pacific's ...

Easter Island statues, traditionally known as moai on the remote island of Rapa Nui in the South Pacific, are some of the most impressive artifacts of ancient Polynesian civilization. How the statues ...