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What a wonderful world!
July 4, 2007
Easter Island, Chile
This quiet South Pacific island is swamped by thousands of visitors every year. They come to see the 394 stone statues or moai created from volcanic stone that dot the islands.
Some facts you probably did not know:
Each statue is carved from a single stone. The tallest statue is 10 metres high and weighs 75 tonnes.
The statues -- there were originally 887 or possibly more -- were all carved on the island from rock from a particular quarry by a caste of craftsmen in this Polynesian society around 1000 AD.
They are thought to be a representation of dead ancestors or/and chiefs and were worshipped.
Easter Island is 3,600 km from the coast of Chile and has a population of about 3,700 people.
Photograph: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images
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