Each Moai statue is unique, showing the person it honors. They were seen as symbols of important figures in Rapa Nui society. The statues were placed on stone platforms called ahu. These platforms ...

The islanders call them "moai," and they have puzzled ethnographers, archaeologists, and visitors to the island since the first European explorers arrived here in 1722. In their isolation ...

But the explorers introduced deadly diseases to which islanders had no immunity, along with artifacts that replaced the moai as status symbols. Snatching Europeans’ hats—Hunt and Lipo cite ...