Researching which moai statues to visit on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in Chile can be overwhelming. I speak from experience, ...

Yet, it’s home to about 1,000 giant moai statues. Some are almost 30 feet tall and weigh up to 80 tons. This is Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, a land full of history and culture.

A university spokesperson said the remains had not been used for research in several decades, before which it isn’t ...

Archaeologist and Easter Island expert Jo Anne Van Tilburg believes the moai were built to honor ancestors and chieftains, or for ritual use to commune with gods, she told PBS. National Geographic ...

Indiana University has completed its first international repatriation of human remains to the Rapa Nui people of Easter ...

On average, they stand 13 feet high and weigh 14 tons, human heads-on-torsos carved in the male form from rough hardened volcanic ash. The islanders call them "moai," and they have puzzled ...

The oldest moai dates back to 1300 ... only airline that flies out of Santiago into Hanga Roa, the capital of Easter Island. It takes about five-and-a-half hours to reach Hanga Roa, with LATAM ...

Among the many secrets buried in Easter Island prehistory is the question of how the Rapanui people transported the multi-ton statues, or moai, from their quarries to their final ceremonial ahu ...

Easter Island is known for these iconic Moai statues, as well as mysteries surrounding the inhabitants of the island. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news ...

This story appears in the July 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. On a winter night last June, José Antonio Tuki, a 30-year-old artist on Easter Island, did one of the things he loves ...