Rano Raraku

It was a quarry for about 500 years until the early eighteenth century, and supplied the stone from which about 95% of the island's known monolithic sculptures (moai) were carved.

The sides of Rano Raraku crater are high and steep except on the north and northwest, where they are much lower and gently sloping.

These plants, once thought as evidence of contact with the South American mainland, are now known to have been growing on the island for at least 30,000 years and were used by the Rapa Nui for thatched shelter and swimming aids.

The incomplete statues in the quarry are remarkable for their number, for the inaccessibility of some that were high on the outside crater wall and for the size of the largest; at 21.6 m (71 feet) in height, almost twice that of any moai ever completed and weighing an estimated 270 tonnes, many times the weight of any transported.

Typical also of the singers was the slightly backward inclination of the trunk, the raised head, and the goatee, all also seen in the statue.