Ahu Tongariki

Its moais were toppled during the island's civil wars, and in the twentieth century the ahu was swept inland by a tsunami.

Ahu Tongariki is one kilometer from Rano Raraku and Poike in the Hotu-iti area of Rapa Nui National Park.

Ahu Tongariki was the main centre and capital of the Hotu-iti clan, the eastern confederation of the Rapa Nui people.

Ahu Tongariki was substantially restored in the 1990s through the efforts of a multidisciplinary team headed by archaeologists Claudio Cristino and Patricia Vargas Casanova.

The five-year project was carried out under an official agreement among the Chilean government, the University of Chile, and Japan-based crane manufacturer Tadano.

Ahu Tongariki. The second moai from the right has a pukao on its head.
All fifteen standing moai at Ahu Tongariki.
Ahu Tongariki in 1914. At the time, all the coastal moais were still overturned.