Isolated island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean covered by hundreds of enigmatic statues. In 1722, a Dutch ship touched on the shores of a tiny island in the South Pacific Ocean, some 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) west of the Chilean coast. The sailors discovered that the inhabitants of the island had erected hundreds of man-shaped statues, ranging in height from one to more than 21 meters (3-70 feet). The statues, called moai by the natives, faced variously toward the coast or toward local villages. By the time Captain James Cook and his British crew touched on the island in 1774, most of the statues had been thrown down from their platforms.
Most anthropologists believe that, between the Dutch and the British visits to Easter Island, a bitter civil war divided the islanders against one another. They base this conclusion partly on stories handed down by island families from generation to generation and partly on the pattern of destruction seen among the statues. The function of the statues is a matter of much speculation. Some anthropologists suggest that the statues were linked to a form of native religion or ancestor worship. Others have suggested that they were family totems, erected to impress others with the family’s power. Still others have suggested that the statues were erected out of boredom because there was nothing else to do to pass the time. A more fanciful explanation suggests that the statues were erected by or in honor of extraterrestrial visitors to the island.